China, Vietnam, Indonesia battle floods :- Over 1.30 lakh people have been evacuated after heavy floods submerged 550 villages in southern Chinese island province of Hainan, even as efforts were on to rescue 6,000 people stranded in some of the worst- hit places.

 Torrential rains, which are the heaviest in Hainan since 1961, lashed the province resulting in heavy floods damaging two highways, as many national routes, eight provincial routes along with several other roads.

Over 1.30 lakh people were evacuated and rescuers were trying to reach 6,000 people stranded in flood hit villages, provincial officials said.

A major reservoir of the Wanquan River began discharging excess water Tuesday night as its levels had become unacceptably high, which resulted in the flooding of the villages, the flood control headquarters in Qionghai City in the east of the island said Wednesday.

Rescuers were yet to reach those hit by floods, Xinhua news agency quoted a spokesman of the headquarters as saying.

Torrential rains have battered Hainan for six days and parts of the island had received an average 324.7 mm of rainfall.

About 150 soldiers had been dispatched to assist in the evacuation of villagers to safe ground.

Several cities, including the provincial capital of Haikou and the beach resort of Sanya, have also suffered flooding.

The four cities of Qionghai, Wanning, Ding'an and Haikou were most seriously hit.

Parts of the island received an average 324.7 mm of rainfall.Hainan Island is a famous tropical tourist resort and attracts millions of visitors every year.

However, tourist numbers were reported to be down by nearly 50 percent Wednesday, the sixth day of the one-week holiday celebrating National Day on 1^st October.

The rains are expected to weaken but continue until the end of the seven-day holiday, an official at the provincial meteorological observatory said.

Meanwhile, villagers in neighbouring Vietnam began to return home as the death toll from this week’s heavy flooding rose to 48, with 23 others missing, disaster officials and the government said.

In the worst-hit province of Quang Binh, 33 people died and 19 others were missing, said disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Giai. About 20,000 people were evacuated from their flooded homes in the area.

Elsewhere in Vietnam, seven people died and one was missing in Ha Tinh province, five died and three were missing in Nghe An and three others were killed in Quang Tri, according to the national floods and storms control committee.

Further south in Indonesia, rescuers searching for survivors cleared away debris in the hardest-hit village of Wasior where residents had been washed away early this week when a river burst its banks.

Rescue efforts were hindered after floods blocked off roads and damaged bridges.

Eighty-seven bodies had been pulled from the mud and the wreckage of crumpled homes, said Sutrisno, the deputy head of the National Disaster Management Agency, adding that with nearly 70 people still missing, the death toll was expected to rise.

More than 150 others have been hospitalized with injuries, most with broken bones.