Over 15 percent of the Chinese population of 1.3 billion has been affected by flooding this year—a total of 200 million people.

Extreme storms and floods have hit 24 of the country’s 31 administrative divisions, inundating hundreds of millions and forcing the evacuation of approximately 5 million Chinese.

The death toll, currently near 700, is amazingly low considering the scale of the disaster, but may be set to climb, as 69 miners remain trapped in a flooded coal mine.

Rising floodwaters overflowing riverbanks have destroyed at least 450,000 homes and approximately 8 million hectares of crops. Economic losses could exceed the official estimate of 52.5 billion yuan ($6.93 billion).

Chinese President Hu Jintao, while visiting the flood-ravaged areas, described the rains as a “once in a century” disaster.

In the central municipality of Chongqing, 10.5 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours last week—making it the largest downpour since records began in 1892.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been deployed to shore up river defenses and rescue flood victims.

Although floods in China are quite common, this year they are occurring concurrently with widespread extreme heat. Shanghai may be experiencing its hottest summer on record after temperatures reached 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41.6 degrees Celsius) during this past weekend.

While flooding affects one in six Chinese, one million others are experiencing a misery of a different kind: thirst. Several southern provinces are reporting shortages of drinking water due to the recent heat wave, which has compounded weeks of drought.

“The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are increasing—records for worst-in-a-century rainstorms, droughts and heat waves are being broken more often,” said Dong Wenjie, director-general of the Beijing Climate Center.

For more on this subject, read the cover story in the coming August-September Trumpet, “Flash Floods, Scorched Earth.”