A total of 95 people have died in the extreme rain storms and flash floods that have ravaged China since July 20, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on Monday. Another 45 people were reported missing across the country. The official death toll for the capital, Beijing, remained at 37 - despite rumours and photographs of bodies being circulate on Chinese microblogging sites.
Some 567,000 people were evacuated as the downpours affected some 6.23 million people in 17 provincial areas including Hebei, Shanxi, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, the ministry said in a statement. On top of the 37 deaths in Beijing, the ministry reported 17 deaths and 21 missing in Hebei province, eight deaths and two missing in Sichuan, six deaths and four missing in Yunnan, five deaths in the city of Chongqing, four deaths and one missing in Shanxi province, three deaths in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and three deaths and 14 missing in Shaanxi province.