Beijing  - At least eight people died and 38 were missing after heavy rain caused floods and landslides in an area of south-western China's Sichuan province that was devastated by an earthquake in May, state media said on Wednesday.

More than 2,200 houses collapsed and 8,500 were damaged in mountainous areas near Sichuan's Mianyang city, including some prefabricated homes built for earthquake survivors, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 6,500 people in Mianyang were stranded by floods and landslides after torrential rain since Monday, the agency quoted local officials as saying.

The semi-official China News Agency said 39 people were missing in Mianyang's Beichuan county alone.

China News showed a photograph of mud half-burying what appeared to be a prefabricated hut for earthquake survivors in Beichuan, whose county town was razed by the
8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12.

Xinhua said at least five people died and 300 were injured by the flooding and landslides in Beichuan.

Water was about waist-high in some streets of Beichuan's Renjiaping village and officials were considering whether to move a camp for some 4,500 people made homeless by the earthquake, the agency said.

The May earthquake killed 69,227 people and left 17,923 missing in Sichuan and neighboring areas. (dpa)