"Since we entered the rainy season, weather-related disasters have been serious, have had a big impact over a wide area and have left us in a serious situation," Qin Dahe, director of the China Meteorological Administration, said.

"From May to July 21, 1,345 people have died and 306 are missing from weather-related disasters, resulting in 75.4 billion yuan (9.4 billion dollars) in direct economic losses."

The number of fatalities, missing people and direct economic losses were "much greater" than the same period last year, he said in a Saturday speech posted on the administration's website.

Qin called the situation in China "complicated" and urged meteorological stations nationwide to improve weather reporting as well as flood and drought control work.

"Since May this year, the weather situation over the nation has been complicated with torrential rains, high winds, hail storms and other weather incidents occuring regularly over southern China," Qin said.

"The first typhoon this year, Chanchu, landed in Guangdong on May 18, nearly 40 days ahead of the beginning of the normal typhoon season.

"Chanchu was the earliest typhoon to hit Guangdong since 1949 and it is also one of the strongest to hit our country during the month of May."

Although Qin did not mention global warming as the cause of unusual weather patterns, reports by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have long held that rising temperatures would result in more severe rain storms in south and central China and drought in the north.

Qin was speaking as the death toll from Tropical Storm Bilis, which struck China over a week ago, rose to 530.

Relief operations continued in the mountainous areas of central Hunan province where flash floods and landslides buried villages and roads after Bilis dumped torrents of rain on the region over the last week.

"Zixing city was the worst area hit," a spokesman at the Zixing city media relations office told AFP by phone, declining to give his name.

"We have not seen anything like this in this region in 500 years, the volume of rain was huge and it triggered landslides in a lot of areas."

More than 610 millimeters (24 inches) of rain was dumped on up to 10 villages in the Zixing region, toppling trees, triggering landslides and inundating roads, he said.

"A lot of trees in the mountainous areas were washed down, including some trees that were several hundred years old," the spokesman said.

He denied claims that local governments were trying to cover up the fatalities due to lax preparations and reports that illegal tree cutting in the region had resulted in the landslides.

"As the local communications were cut off, we had no contact with these towns and villages," he said.

"Government departments at all levels have been focusing on rescue operations and have been dispatched to the worst hit areas to help the victims. We have to get people to shelters."

At least 346 people were reported dead and 89 missing from the rains in Hunan province, including 197 fatalities and 66 missing in the Zixing area, the government reported late Friday night.

Tropical Storm Bilis, which also claimed lives in the Philippines and Taiwan, has left a path of death and destruction since making landfall in China.

In the southern province of Guangdong, neighboring Hunan, 106 people were confirmed dead and 77 were missing from Bilis, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a provincial government report issued late Saturday.

More than 7.4 million people were affected by the disaster in 68 counties and over 670 townships in the province. Economic losses were estimated at 13.5 billion yuan (1.68 billion dollars), the report said.

At least 35 people were reported dead in the southern region of Guangxi, while 43 were killed in southeastern Fujian province.

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