Another 11 people remain missing and 71,000 houses have been destroyed in the floods, said E Jingping, secretary general of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, who is also vice minister of water resources.

Direct economic losses were reported at more than 13.097 billion yuan (about 1.64 billion U.S. dollars), the official said.

A total of 1 million hectares of farmland have affected, he added.

The worst hit provinces are Guangdong in south China, Fujian and Jiangxi in east China , and Hunan and Hubei in central China, he said.