The heavy downpours have been lashing the region for over a week and were not expected to let up until Saturday, the State Meteorological Bureau said in an alert.

As many as 16.6 million people have been affected by the storms that have caused up to 11.3 billion yuan (1.36 billion dollars) in damages and led to the emergency evacuation of 1.4 million people, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a report.

Mountainous areas of Guangxi region and Guangdong and Fujian provinces were the worst hit, while the neighbouring provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang were also swept with the worst rains in years, the ministry said.

In the southeastern coastal province of Fujian Thursday a landslide triggered by the rains swept a bus into the turbulent Min River near Jianou city with local officials leaving scant hope for 23 passengers.

"Two people have survived including the driver, 23 passengers are still missing," a Jianou traffic policeman surnamed Wang told AFP.

"At the time the whole mountain side shook and then the side of the mountain collapsed and pushed the bus into the river," Wang said.

"If the waters do not subside, then it is hard to say if we will find anyone alive, the river is very rapid and turbulent right now.

Between 300 to 400 millimeters (12 to 16 inches) of rain has fallen on parts of the province since last Friday and so far has taken the lives of 13 people, Xinhua news agency said.

China's civil affairs ministry Wednesday issued a "level three alert" calling on the establishment of a joint ministerial task force to address the disaster that has also hit the Guangxi region and nearby province of Guangdong.

Premier Wen Jiabao has called for an "all-out effort" to combat the floods and step up disaster relief and evacuation efforts.

Since June 16, 42 people have died and 13 were missing in Guangdong to the storms, while another 38 died and 27 were missing in Guangxi, the ministry said.