As of Thursday, flooding has killed 594 people in China's 26 provinces since the beginning of this year, with 212 missing, inflicting direct economic losses of 120.2 billion yuan (17.6 billion U.S. dollars), the nation's flood control authority said Thursday.

Armed police officers and soldiers struggle to strengthen the Meixi reservoir in Jiangxi Province on July 14, 2010.

The floods have affected 97.5 million people and 6.16 million hectares of farmland, with 590,000 homes flattened, according to data from the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

The office launched Thursday a level-three disaster control emergency response for Typhoon Conson, which is expected to make landfall in southern Guangdong Province on Thursday or Friday.

It also dispatched two work teams to Guangdong and Hainan provinces, to help local governments deal with problems caused by the storm.

The typhoon will exacerbate China's already severe flooding problems as water levels of the Yangtze River, Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake and Taihu Lake continued to rise, said Chen Lei, vice director of the office.