Flood toll rises across the country

This year's floods had killed 793 people nationwide by July 8, according to Ministry of Civil Affairs figures. Flooding had affected 100m people in 24 of China's 31 provincial level authorities. Of these, the worst affected were Shaanxi, Fujian, Hunan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangxi, Hubei, Jiangxi and Guizhou. In all, the floods destroyed more than 8m hectares of crops and forced 1.78m people to flee their homes.