Floods have left 63 people dead and 59 missing in northeast China's Jilin Province over the past two months, local authorities said Monday.

More than 4 million people have been affected since the flood season began in June and some 700,000 people have been evacuated, the Jilin Provincial Civil Affairs Department said in a statement.

Additionally, about 62,000 houses have collapsed and 193,000 others have been damaged, along with 1.16 million hectares of cropland having been inundated, the statement said.

Direct economic losses were estimated at almost 19 billion yuan ($2.8 billion), it added.

In the hardest-hit areas, flash floods have cut roads, isolated villages and disrupted communications and water supplies.

In the industrial city of Tonghua, torrential rains have damaged water pipelines, leaving 300,000 people without tap water for two days.

Residents have largely relied on bottled water over the past 48 hours as authorities ordered 25 fire trucks to deliver water for domestic purposes aside from drinking to residential communities from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. everyday.

About 1,700 tons of water had been delivered by truck, officials said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2010)