Flood toll: 377 dead, 147 missing

Fuzhou, Jiangxi - The death toll from continuous rains battering South China since June 13 has climbed to 377, with 147 people missing as of Friday, authorities said.

The flooding and landslides triggered by the recent torrential rains affected about 65 million people across 22 provinces and regions and forced about 4.4 million people to evacuate by Friday, according to the latest statistics with the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

A total of 368,000 houses were destroyed and about 4 million hectares of farmland was damaged with direct economic losses reaching 76 billion yuan ($11 billion), the statistics said.