Continuous heavy rain in the middle and lower reaches of the river, China's second longest, has caused flooding around Lankao county and the water level was rapidly rising, the Xinhua news agency website said.

The victims are from 16 villages, where 30 percent of the homes have been inundated with water, the report said.

The China Daily said run-off from the Yellow River had inundated 4,000 hectares (9,880 acres) of farmland in Lankao county, and the average water level was close to one meter (3.3 feet) in depth.

By Monday evening, soldiers in Henan had used more than 180 boats to move 5,000 residents to dry ground, the report said.

Henan provincial officials have allotted 2.5 million yuandollars) for disaster relief in the area and have distributed 4.3 tons of flour, 29 tons of coal and 600 tents to the victims.

Flooding from the Yellow River has so far affected at least 100,000 villagers in Henan and Shandong provinces, the China Daily said.

Water from the Yellow River also continued to flood into Dongming county in eastern Shandong, the China Daily said.

So far, 96,800 people in 130 villages in Dongming have suffered from the flooding and 12,000 hectares of farmland have been submerged, it said.

Severe rain and floods have blighted large parts of China this summer, leaving millions of people homeless after floods ravaged 26 provinces in July.

The government said recently that torrential rains and floods have claimed 1,911 lives so far this year.

TERRA.WIRE