So far this year, floods have killed 567 people, left 165 missing, forced the emergency relocation of 2.46 million people across the country and caused direct economic losses of 22.9 billion yuan ($2.77 billion), the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Friday.

Water in most sections of the Xijiang river, which runs through Guangdong and Guangxi, and in the Minjiang river and its tributaries, in the coastal eastern province of Fujian, had dropped below warning lines, Xinhua said.

"Flood control work, however, is still tough in these areas," it quoted E Jingping, general secretary of the office and vice-minister of water resources, as saying.

Guangxi was expecting moderate to heavy rainfall in the coming days which might "pose new challenge for flood control in Xijiang", Xinhua said.

On Sunday, thousands of people in Wuzhou, some 350 km (220 miles) west of Hong Kong in the region of Guangxi, thronged the streets to bid farewell to People's Liberation Army troops who had come in to help rescue people and fight flooding.

A witness said much of the eastern part of the city was still flooded, in some cases up to the second storey of buildings, and electricity had not been restored.

People traversed the inundated streets in boats and rafts.

In Guangxi, more than 300 medical teams and "epidemic prevention teams" were dispatched to flood-hit areas along with 20 tonnes of disinfectant and pesticide, Xinhua said.