About 650,000 people were affected and 100,000 were evacuated from low-lying areas, he said.

Floodwater rushes through the sluice gates of the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei province on July 19, 2010. The reservoir's inflow rose up to 58,000 cubic meters a second at 8:00 am this morning, the highest this year.

Meanwhile, between July 15 and 19 torrential rain led to 11 deaths and landslides buried 44 people. In addition, 88,000 were evacuated from Shaanxi, according to local officials.

In Sichuan province, at least 23 people were killed and 30 were missing on Sunday after the worst rainstorm of the year struck the region late on Friday, the provincial civil affairs department said on Monday.

More than 586,000 people were forced to evacuate as torrential rain slammed the province, triggering massive mudslides, landslides and building collapses, cutting off roads, electricity and communications in some regions.

Half of Quxian, the worst hit county, has experienced water levels of up to 10 meters deep. The county is also cut off from the outside world, with roads and railways completely flooded, officials said.

The flood in the Qujiang River has been the worst on record in 160 years, according to the People's Daily.

More than 135,000 people in the city were evacuated when two-thirds of the old town of Guang'an was flooded.

In Chongqing, more than 6,000 people in Wanyuan were evacuated as of early Monday due to a possible breach in a dam after a lake had been blocked with debris from a nearby mountain following days of torrential rain, local media reported on Monday.