NANNING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Eight people in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have been killed by rainstorms that have wrought havoc in many parts of the country over the last few days, authorities said on Monday.

As of Monday evening, over 843,500 people and 35,530 hectares of farmland in Guangxi have been affected by downpours since Thursday, according to the regional civil affairs bureau.

Over 2,300 houses collapsed due to the heavy rain. And direct economic losses are estimated to stand at about 310 million yuan (48.7 million U.S. dollars).

Local governments have relocated 23,300 people.

Rainstorms and gales have hit the southern coastal city of Beihai in the region over the past few days.

The local meteorological observatory in Beihai gave a blue-color-coded warning signal at 4 p.m. on Monday, predicting gales will rage over Beihai and the Beibu Gulf in the following 24 hours.

Shipping routes from Beihai to Weizhou Island and from Beihai to Haikou, capital of the southern Hainan province, have been suspended as of 8 a.m. on Sunday, according to the local maritime department.

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