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 in Beijing on Monday.

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

The ministry said that by 4 PM on 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 rain since mid June have brought about great disasters to these areas, it said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2005)