SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has evacuated 127,000 people in the southern province of Guangdong due to heavy rains, the official Xinhua news agency said Saturday, citing local authorities.

Rains affecting more than 1.2 million residents across 27 counties in eastern Guangdong have left two people dead and two missing, and have caused more than 1 billion yuan ($146 million) worth of damage, including to 44,700 hectares of farmland, Xinhua said.

China is forced to evacuate hundreds of thousands of residents of flood-prone regions every summer.

On Monday, the official English-language China Daily reported that heavy flooding caused by a typhoon and tropical storm in the eastern province of Shandong had killed 14 people and caused 10 billion yuan in direct economic losses in August.

($1 = 6.8300 Chinese yuan)