NANNING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- About 40,000 people have been affected by heavy rain which started on Tuesday in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the provincial department of civil affairs said on Friday.

According to statistics from the department, three cities and nine counties were flooded and 873 residents were relocated. About 1,170 hectares of crops were destroyed and 150 houses were damaged by the flooding which caused direct economic losses of more than 37 million yuan (5.4 million U.S. dollars).

The local meteorological department said that five cities including the capital Nanning will see more storms on Saturday and the heavy rain will last until Sunday in the north of the province.