Natural disasters have killed 659 people this year and caused losses of about 39.26 billion yuan ($4.75 billion), the Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying.

Floods accounted for more than half the deaths.

Three typhoons are forecast to hit China next month, bringing devastating floods, the China Daily said.

"More disastrous flooding or waterlogging is likely to occur," the newspaper quoted Zhang Guocai, an official of the China Meteorological Administration, as saying.

Floods, drought, wind, hail, earthquakes, heavy snow, freezing, landslides and mud-rock flows have damaged about 18 million hectares (44 million acres) of crops, the ministry said.

About 1.6 million hectares (3.9 million acres) of arable land yielded no harvest.

An estimated 388,000 houses collapsed and 2.4 million were destroyed, forcing the relocation of nearly 1.3 million people.

TOP PRIORITY

Wen urged local governments to give top priority to ensuring the safety of victims of natural disasters, transferring them to safe places in a timely fashion and supplying food, clothing and temporary lodging, the media said.

Officials should "fight flooding and focus on preventing devastating weather-related hazards, promote relief work and guard against any possible outbreaks of epidemic diseases in flood-stricken areas", the China Daily quoted Wen as saying. He called for better weather forecasting and safety supervision of reservoirs and embankments during China's summer flood season.

Floods alone claimed 381 lives, left 98 missing and affected 45.7 million people between January 1 and July 20, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.

The hardest hit provinces and regions were Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing in the southwest, Hubei, Hunan and Henan in central China and Guangxi in the south.

Ten bodies were found this week in Yingjiang county in the province of Yunnan, which was hit by landslides and mudflows, bringing the death toll to 12, Xinhua said. Forty-eight people were missing and four injured.

The waters of the Yuanjiang and Zishui rivers in Hunan, both tributaries of the Yangtze, have risen past the danger mark, Xinhua said.

Precipitation in central and south China has been 20 to 50 percent higher than average since June.

While most of southern and central China has been plagued by floods, northern provinces are suffering chronic drought.