Twelve more people were confirmed dead Monday from house collapses in northwestern Shaanxi, raising the death toll so far to 23, the Xinhua news agency said.

The province, which has been hit by rain for five days, had on Sunday reported 11 deaths in the counties of Shanyang, Heyang and Longxian.

The newly reported casualties came from the counties of Chengcheng and Baishui, Xinhua said.

Local governments have started a belated inspection of dangerous houses in rural areas and ordered the evacuation of residents living in them, according to the agency.

In central Henan, 13 farmers were crushed to death after 77,000 homes collapsed in Luoyang city, the China News Service said.

Many residents escaped death and injuries, but have been left homeless either because their homes came crashing down or because the structures were in danger of collapsing, the report said.

Officials estimated that more than 300,000 people in the city were affected by the disaster to some degree.

Village schools have been crammed full of homeless with many of the victims waiting for tents to serve as temporary shelter.

The Henan provincial disaster relief center has rushed 2,000 tents to the area, but they were apparently not enough to meet the need.

Luoyang city experienced six days of continuous heavy rain, with the average daily rainfall reaching 100 millimeters (four inches), the report said.

The downpours caused landslides and also caused the cave-homes -- dug into the sides of mountains -- that many people live in to collapse.

Local governments have allocated 17 million yuan (2.0 million US dollars) of disaster relief to help the victims.

TERRA.WIRE