Crowds watch the roaring discharge of water from a hydrological station in Huoqiu County, East China's Anhui Province, on July 11, ahead of flood threats by the Huaihe River, the country's third longest river, which is expected to see its worst flooding since 1954.

As of July 12, eight diversion zones had been deliberately submerged to weaken the flood peaks of the Huaihe River, forcing almost half a million people to be evacuated from the projected paths of floodwater in Anhui and adjacent Henan and Jiangsu provinces. Economic losses are estimated to top 7.4 billion yuan (nearly $1 billion).

Continuous torrential rain also caused havoc in the provinces of Sichuan and Hubei and Chongqing Municipality in the Yangtze River Valley and northwest China's Shaanxi Province in early July. In response, the Central Government allocated 232 million yuan ($31.35 million) on July 11 to finance anti-flood measures.

The death toll in the seven flood-hit provinces had risen to 131 and another 31 were still missing as of July 10, said the Ministry of Civil Affairs.