The death toll caused by floods in China has risen to 607 and a total of 164 remain missing, said the Ministry of Civil Affairs yesterday.

Another 2.864 million people were relocated and the direct economic loss is estimated at 27.17 billion yuan (3.354 billion US dollars).

The ministry said that by 4 p.m. of June 27, a total of 21,474,000 people had been affected to different degrees in the five southern provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Mountain floods, landslides and rock flows caused by heavy rainsince mid June have brought about great disasters to these areas, it said. Enditem