Trucks carrying water and food streamed into a Chinese city on Sunday after flooding killed at least 58 people, while soldiers laid sandbags to fill gaps in river dykes that had left neighbourhoods under water.

Residents cleared away mud, wrecked cars and other debris following record rain which started on Tuesday and flooded streets and disrupted train services.

The rain subsided earlier in the week but some neighbourhoods were still waiting for water up to 6ft (2m) deep to drain away.

Trucks dropped off instant noodles and other goods at a stadium in Xinxiang, 40 miles (65km) north of the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province.

Volunteers shifted pallets of drinking water stacked higher than their heads on to other trucks for distribution.

The volunteers occasionally broke into cheers of “Go, Xinxiang!”

Direct economic losses throughout Henan were estimated at 13.9 billion yuan (£1.6 billion), according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

It said more than 3,800 houses had collapsed across the province and 920,000 people were evacuated from their homes.

Emergency crews were trying to close gaps in dykes that had flooded sections of some villages.

Soldiers and paramilitary police were dumping stones and sandbags into a 300ft (100m) long, 25ft (8m) deep gap in a dyke on the Weihe river in Xinxiang, official newspaper the Global Times reported.

On Saturday, authorities intentionally flooded parts of the nearby city of Hebi to lower water levels elsewhere, according to Shanghai online news outlet The Paper.