China has evacuated more than 500,000 people from deadly floods that are devastating areas in the south of the country following the worst drought in 50 years.
At least 105 people have been swept to their deaths or killed in landslides and another 65 are missing after rivers burst their banks. The authorities have issued the highest level of alarm about dykes and dams under dangerous pressure.
Television channels that were only recently broadcasting images of dried-up lake beds are now carrying footage of flooded homes and boats plying their way through inundated streets. China Daily said 550,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
The dramatic shift is in line with weather trends identified by the Beijing Climate Centre, which says rain is coming in shorter, fiercer bursts, interspersed by protracted periods of drought.
The worst affected province is Zhejiang, where some stretches of the Qiantang river have risen to their highest level since 1955, according to the Flood Control and Drought Relief Office.
In the Zhuji district, which has had 40.5cm of rain since the start of the month, the Puyang river inundated 88 villages and 13,000 hectares of crops.
In neighbouring Jiangxi province, troops have helped 122,400 residents evacuate from vulnerable lowlands, according to the China News Service. Roads have been closed and bridges have collapsed in the floods, which have also affected Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces.
Monitoring stations on 40 rivers have recorded water levels above the safety limit, including Asia's biggest waterway – the Yangtze – which is simultaneously suffering a flood downstream and a drought closer to its source.
Meteorologists warned that the torrential downpours are forecast to move southwards or inland. Li Xiaoquan was quoted on China's weather news website as saying that the rains were expected to affect Sichuan, Chongqing and Guangdong provinces before easing on Sunday.
Additional reporting by Cecily Huang
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.