SHANGHAI, Jul 30 -- FIERCE storms and hail have killed at least 11 people in central and eastern China, adding to more than 700 killed this summer in floods, landslides and other natural disasters.

Ten deaths occurred in central Hubei Province, where torrential rain and hail have accompanied swollen waters along the Yangtze River.

Strong wind, rain and hail affected 374,500 people in 11 counties and cities in Hubei since Friday, according to the Disaster Relief Office under the Provincial Administration of Civil Affairs.

In the worst-hit Huangpo district in Wuhan, the provincial capital, the extreme weather left seven dead and 3,000 houses damaged, forcing 1,600 people to evacuate. Across Hubei, the violent weather injured 223 residents.

Weeks of rain along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze, China's biggest river, have threatened Wuhan with dangerously high waters.

Authorities in Hubei have mobilized tens of thousands of people to monitor the embankments of the swollen Hanjiang River, a major Yangtze tributary.

A separate hail storm lashed six counties in eastern Anhui Province on Saturday, leaving one dead, three injured and damaging power-supply facilities, according to sources with the provincial government.

The storm destroyed 5,100 hectares of crops, damaged 637 houses, and forced 78 people to be evacuated. Losses were estimated at more than 40 million yuan (US$5.29 million).

Along the Huaihe River, flood waters remain dangerously high but have begun to retreat after inundating villages in Anhui.

The water level began to retreat on Saturday after the fourth flood crest passed the Huaihe on Friday. No more rain is expected in the near future.

Wang Bin, secretary general of the Huaihe River Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said yesterday the levels at Wangjiaba, a key hydrological station on the middle reaches of the Huaihe, decreased to 27.49 meters at 8pm on Saturday, after 26 consecutive days above the danger line.

In the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe River in Jiangsu Province, 150,000 soldiers were on the weekend safeguarding dikes amid a heat wave.

(Xinhua/Shanghai Daily)