A total of 5.162 million hectares of farmland have been damaged, 78.011 million people have been affected and 275,000 houses destroyed, the ministry said.

Since late June, incessant heavy rains have led to severe mountain torrents, mud-rock flows and landslides in several parts of China.

"Flood situation is very grave, especially in Hunan, Henan, Hubei and Yunnan provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region," said Wang Zhenyao, director of the ministry's Disaster Relief Department, who describing this year's floods as the worst of the past several decades.

This year, natural disasters in general -- floods, drought, wind, hail, earthquakes, heavy snow, freezing, landslides and mud-rock flows -- have killed 659 people and caused economic losses of39.26 billion (about US$4.75 billion).

The ministry said 17.836 million hectares of crops have suffered and a total of 1.569 million hectares of arable land have produced no crops this season. About 388,000 houses collapsed during the disasters and 2.447 million houses were damaged.

As a result, a total of 1.285 million people had been relocated, said the ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2004)