360 killed in China rainy season

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Chinese officials say heavy floods and landslides have killed at least 360 people in recent weeks, and caused billions of dollars' worth of damage.

Officials say more than 60 million people have been affected across southern and central China.

More rain is forecast and the rainy season has months left to run.

Earlier this year, the government warned that climate change would make weather conditions in China this year tougher than for the last decade.

Some 200,000 houses have been wholly or partially destroyed in the floods, and some two million hectares of grain crops have been completely destroyed, an official is quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua.

Most of the deaths have occurred in the Jialing river valley in the south-western Sichuan province, he said.

There have been floods in almost all the tributaries of Jujiang river, a branch of the Jialing, he added.

The government has already promised aid to those people who have been worst affected, and soldiers have been sent in to help with rescue efforts and build up flood defences.

Rescuers have been working to reinforce dams, restore power and help search for at least 13 people still missing.

Last year some 2,704 people died in flooding and typhoons in China, according to the country's Meteorological Administration.