The death toll from flooding and drought has climbed to 1,138, with another 210 people missing, Vice Minister of Water Resources E Jingping told a press conference.

More than 139 million people have been affected by the severe rains, flooding and drought, he said, adding that most of the problems occurred during the peak rainy season of July and August.

As of August 21, 5.32 million hectares (13.1 million acres) of crops had been damaged while 883,000 houses had collapsed, causing a direct economic loss of 10 billion dollars, according to ministry statistics.

Water Resources Minister Chen Lei said many Chinese cities had suffered from "unprecedented" rain this year.

Meanwhile, droughts, which usually hit northern China, had this year also hit many southern provinces, according to Chen.

However the ministry said the death toll from heavy rains in 2007 was about half compared with recent years, due to the implementation of flood defence projects and more efficient evacuations.