Floods have left 74 people dead and 71 missing in northeast China's Jilin Province over the past two months, Jilin's civil affairs department said Tuesday.

Since June, torrential rains have disrupted the lives of nearly 4.6 million people in the province, forcing the evacuation of more than 784,000 people, the department said in a statement to Xinhua.

Moreover, more than 64,000 houses have collapsed and 265,000 others have been damaged while over 1.25 million hectares of farmland have been inundated.

Direct economic losses are estimated at 26.4 billion yuan ($3.9 billion).

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

Flooding may worsen as more downpours are forecast to hit the province over the next three days.

In Tonghua City workers are rushing to repair flood-damaged water pipelines. The city is among the hardest-hit by the floods, according to Zhu Qiwen, deputy head of the provincial weather bureau.

No deadline has been given as to when the pipelines will be fixed to resume water supplies to 300,000 residents who have been without water for more than 60 hours.

However, temporary water supply pipelines are expected to be set up late Tuesday, according to the city government.

City authorities have purchased 1.5 million bottles of mineral water for locals to drink and ordered 25 fire trucks to deliver water for other household purposes.

It has also ordered vegetables from neighboring Liaoning Province to ensure supply.

On Tuesday, major reservoirs in Jilin discharged water in preparation for new downpours.

Breaches of the embankments of the swollen Songhua River in Songyuan City and Nongan County, respectively, are being monitored.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2010)