Beijing - Officials have evacuated more than 260,000 people as floods and a tropical storm hit two separate areas of southern China, the government said on Monday.

Floods in the south-western region of Chongqing left at least eight people dead and three missing, forcing the evacuation of 106,000 people by early Saturday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported.

A total of 220 millimetres of rain fell on many areas of Chongqing from Friday to Sunday, destroying 6,603 homes and damaging 15,218 others, the ministry said on its website.

The storms also ruined about 4,800 hectares of crops, bringing estimated direct economic losses of 400 million yuan (59 million dollars), it said.

In a separate report, the ministry said 162,757 people were evacuated from some 30,000 fishing boats before tropical storm Linfa made landfall in the south-eastern province of Fujian late Sunday.

Linfa, the third tropical storm this year, packed winds gusting at up to 82 kilometres per hour and was forecast to bring heavy rain to inland areas as it moved across China on Monday.

The Fujian provincial government sent more than 10 million text messages to mobile telephones to warn people of the approaching storm, state media said. (dpa)