Rainstorms and floods battered southern China killing some 78 people since the start of June, according to the Chinese emergency management ministry.

Another 12 million have been affected by property damage, road closures and other disruptions, including 720,000 people rescued or relocated from flood waters.

The flood season has caused $3.6 billion in economic losses, the ministry said, a further blow to a domestic economy already suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Seasonal flooding hits much of China each year, and authorities have sought to mitigate the damage through the use of dams, particularly the massive Three Gorges structure on the Yangtze.

China’s worst floods in recent years were in 1998, when more than 2,000 people died and almost 3 million homes were destroyed.