BEIJING, June 25 (UPI) -- Chinese floods have killed 567 people so far this year, with 165 reported missing, government officials in Beijing said.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs announced the number evacuated from their homes due to floods, landslides and mudslides has topped 2.45 million after more torrential rains, China Daily reported Saturday. The rains have caused direct damage estimated at up to $2.7 billion.
So far this year, the loss is worse than average, but still below the figures in 1991 and 1998 when severe floods hit eastern and central China, a ministry official said.
An estimated 60 percent of China's total losses have been in Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Guangxi, Fujian and Guangdong were the worst hit.
A total 111 deaths have been confirmed in the past week alone, as the regions remained "plagued by floods with rain-swollen rivers raging across areas downstream," a source with the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.
