Commuters are stranded in flooded areas in Sichuan. Floods unleashed by torrential rain have killed at least 118 and left 86 missing in the region.-Xinhua

Floods unleashed by torrential rain have killed at least 118 people and left 86 missing in southwest China.

Authorities yesterday called in thousands of army and navy personnel to help after five days of continual downpours in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality.

An alert was ordered and navigation halted as flood crests passed through the Three Gorges Dam along the flood-swollen Yangtze River.

More rain is expected.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said the rain has affected 8 million people, and direct economic losses are estimated to exceed 3.3 billion yuan (US$398 million).

"This is the most severe natural disaster since typhoon Rananim, which killed at least 164 in eastern Zhejiang Province last month," said Zhang Zhitong, deputy director of the headquarters.

Eighty-five people were confirmed dead and 53 were missing in Sichuan Province and 33 have died with another 33 missing in Chongqing Municipality.

They were victims of landslides, mud-and-rock flow and flash floods sweeping through mountain valleys, according to local flood-control offices.

The headquarters said the water level in the upper reaches of the Yangtze has begun to fall.

But it urged Chongqing and Hubei Province, in the upper and middle reaches of the river, to stay on guard.

State television showed violent torrents of murky water spewing through the dam's sluice gates at the massive Three Gorges hydroelectric project.

Navigation through its huge locks was not expected to resume until tomorrow, it said.

The greatest damage was from landslides and flash floods sweeping through mountain valleys.

He Rongjun, a spokesman for the Sichuan Province Disaster Relief Office said about 8,900 people were injured or sick because of the floods in the province.

Forty-six of the deaths occurred in Dazhou Town. TV showed survivors picking through rubbish-filled downtown streets.

In other cities, men in chest-high water pulled women and children on truck inner-tubes and plastic washtubs.

In sprawling Chongqing Municipality along the Yangtze, upstream from the Three Gorges, local government spokesman He Lingyun said 33 people were killed and 33 were missing there.

The unusually heavy rainstorm, which started last Thursday, has left 16 dead and 26 missing in Kaixian County of Chongqing alone.

Zhang Jun, a 19-year-old armed policeman, drowned when helping several villagers flee their flooded houses.

Meteorological authorities said the rainstorm was the strongest to hit the county in two centuries.

The flood destroyed roads, damaged many water conservancy facilities and cut power and communications in most areas of Kaixian County.

The only waterworks in the county with a population of 100,000 had been destroyed.

Power workers worked throughout the day on Monday to restore electricity and by nightfall about 80 percent of the county had power.

More than 40,000 students had to study at home because 84 schools in the county were flooded or damaged.

More than 3,000 homeless people sheltering in government office buildings and schools.

The local health department has sent medical teams to the flooded areas to prevent possible outbreaks of epidemic diseases.

The central government has allocated 40 million yuan (US$4.82 million) in relief funds to the region.

The halt to navigation on the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric project, was the first since the dam was reopened to river traffic in June 2003.