BEIJING -- Lightning strikes have killed 282 Chinese so far this year, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said on Friday.

The CMA earlier reported 193 deaths between January 1 and June 25 which means nearly 100 people have died in less than four weeks.

Chen Yu, a senior engineer with the CMA's National Climate Center, said the death toll caused by lightning in the first half of the year was 252, 109 more than last year.

In June, east China's Jiangxi Province topped all Chinese provinces in terms of number of deaths from lightning strikes with 57.

Meanwhile, 671 people died in meteorological disasters, which incurred direct economic losses of 52.69 billion yuan (6.96 billion U.S. dollars).