Massive flooding in southern China follows drought in many regions.
Authorities in southern China have evacuated hundreds of thousands of people after days of heavy rain triggered burst riverbanks, widespread flooding, and mudslides in the region.
"Since June 13, the damage caused by the rainstorms has led to ... the emergency evacuation of 671,200 people to safety," China's Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a statement on its website Friday.
Altogether, more than a million people have been evacuated since the rains began, with at least 168 deaths reported, including those from two previous rounds of rains beginning in early June.
Sichuan, Guizhou, and Zhejiang will be hit by further rainstorms at the weekend, according to meteorologists in Beijing.
Beijing's National Meteorological Center called on flood-hit areas to brace for more rain.
"These areas must strengthen their prevention of geological disasters," the National Meteorological Center said in a statement.
'Widespread damage'
The Civil Affairs Ministry said the damage from flooding has been "widespread" across the eastern provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi, the central province of Hubei, as well as Guangdong and Guangxi in the south and Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guizhou in the southwest.
The damage was heavy in most places, with 40 percent of counties reporting "serious" damage as a result, it said.
The ministry estimated economic losses from the flooding at around 12.8 billion yuan (U.S.$1.9 billion).
The central government has raised the emergency response signal to level 4, the highest possible, sending out rescue teams to worst-hit Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi, which until mid-June were parched with drought.
Guizhou was first to be hit by severe flooding at the beginning of June, with 37 deaths in Wangmo country alone and 45,000 evacuated residents.
Qiantang river in eastern China rose to a 50-year high this week, with water levels on rivers in Sichuan, Guangxi, and Guangdong also at dangerously high levels, official media reported.
Reported by Luisetta Mudie.
The course of the Yangtze River, China's largest, from north to south. 
Heavy June rainfall has forced China to  evacuate more than 550,000 people from their homes. Massive floods have devastated the central and  southern parts of the country,  causing rivers to overflow their banks and triggering mudslides.  The rains follow the worst  in China in over 50 years, which has decimated  crop yields.  

Overall, 40 rivers have risen above safe limits, stressing  dykes and dams including those on China's largest waterway, the , which is flooding downstream while experiencing a severe drought near its source in the north. 
 
China's disaster level has been raised to four, the highest on the scale. In a statement on its website on Friday, China's  said, "Since June 13, the damage caused by the rainstorms has led to ... the emergency evacuation of 671,200 people to safety."

The current round of heavy rains began in early June. Since then, more than a million and a half people have been displaced in  the central and southern regions of the country and at least 168 deaths have been reported. Meteorologists in  are predicting more heavy rain in  , , and  this weekend.

The government has mobilized its forces to aid in the massive evacuations. According to , local authorities are distributing a box of  and a carton of bottled water to those affected by the flood. But villagers have reported that survival is difficult, especially for those still trapped by the flood waters in small villages, and distribution of aid is slow, with some not receiving any. 

A villager was quoted by Reuters: "To be frank, those rescue boats cannot go through those narrow lanes inside the village. A lot of them depend on their relatives rowing small wooden boats to get to them... It is hard to help these people inside there." Another villager, Shou Pengfei  said, "Some did not even get any relief items. There is no electricity and you get bitten by mosquitoes all the time." 

According to  the Beijing Climate Centre, weather trends have shifted drastically. Currently the  rain is coming in shorter but fiercer bursts, with  protracted periods of drought in between the torrential rain. 
 on the  in 2009. 
The heavy  rainfall is not likely to reduce the crop failure caused by months of drought, especially in the north, the heart of China's grain-growing bread basket, where many rivers have dried up. According to reports, the northern countryside  has been left devastated by the droughts. Huge dams hundreds of meters wide are now small, muddy pools. Large cities such as  are draining the underground water sources and China is facing a long-term water crisis.

Meanwhile, China is engaged in  a huge multi-year engineering project designed to move water to the parched north and away from the flooded south. The North-South water project is a massive series of canals and pipes designed to carry water from the Yangtze and  rivers to Beijing.

It is likely, analysts predict, that Chinese crop shortages will increase food prices worldwide. Even before the latest flooding, the severe drought in the north caused a  shortfall in China's crop yields that will likely  affect the price of wheat and may propel a price increase in global markets.