The death toll from torrential rains and the start of annual summer flooding in China has risen to 204, with 79 others missing.
"Based on the Ministry of Civil Affairs' preliminary statistics, due to flooding from 16 provinces, cities and autonomous regions, 17.06 million people were affected, 204 died and 79 are missing," the <i>Xinhua</i> news agency reported.
The seasonal floods have also affected 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) of farmland, completely destroying 614,000 hectares, it said.
