Updated 14:22 | Published at 2:13 p.m
At least 90 rivers in northeastern China have risen above their water levels and 24 have overflowed, state media reported. Now large parts of the area are threatened by floods.
The affected area, which on the surface is more than twice the size of Sweden, includes parts of four provinces with a total population of close to 100 million people. So far, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated.
Reservoirs have been partially drained and areas prepared to handle the high water levels, according to reports which also state that ten rivers have reached “historically high levels”.
Large parts of China are battered by heavy rains and floods every summer, but this year even areas that are not usually hit, including the Chinese capital, Beijing, have been hit.
In July, 142 people died in China as a result of floods.