BEIJING

Nearly 20 million people were affected by floods caused by torrential rain in China, the country’s Department of Emergency Management said on Friday.

According to an official statement, the authorities evacuated 1.3 million people who were among 19.91 million people affected by the flood.

The statement said 582,000 people needed urgent aid.

After continued downpouring since the beginning of June, floods hit China’s southern provinces of Zhe Jiang, Fu Jian, Hu Nan, Guang Dong, Gui Zhou, and Guang Xi.

The flood destroyed 34,000 houses, 1.76 billion acres of farmland and caused financial loses of 53.4 billion Yuan (US$7.7 billion), the statement said.

More rescuers and relief supplies will be sent to the disaster-hit areas, it added.