BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese state media are reporting at least 20 people have been killed in heavy flooding in the southern China.

Heavy rains have been pounding central and southern China since Wednesday.

The official Xinhua (shin-wah) News Agency says about 700,000 people have fled their homes after the rains toppled houses, flooded roads and damaged a dam.

A school official in the (Guangxi) region says flood waters have blocked the entrances to a a middle school, stranding some 300 teenagers with limited food and water. Officials used boats to deliver supplies to the school on Saturday, including pumps to lower the water level. Flood waters are more than eight feet deep in the town.