86 killed, 23 million affected by China floods, landslides

Beijing : At least 86 people have been killed and around 23 million have been affected due to floods, landslides and other natural disasters in China, official disaster relief authorities said on Friday.

Zhang Jiatuan, spokesperson for the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said floods had affected around 2.18 million hectares (around 5.4 million acres) of farmland and destroyed 30,000 houses, Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 13 people were missing. The Water Resources and the Finance Ministries assigned funds worth 1.7 billion yuan ($250 million) for the affected areas.

Large parts of China, especially the southern regions, get affected every summer by torrential rains and typhoons, causing several deaths.