Torrential rains that swept through China this week have left at least 112 people dead and 91 others missing, various provincial governments reported on Saturday.
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In the central province of Henan, 15 people died and eight went missing due to thunderstorms and howling winds which have forced 72,000 people to evacuate their homes.
The worst-hit Daxian Village of Xingtai City was nearly empty after a flash flood swamped it early Wednesday morning.
Seventy-two people have been killed and 78 are missing in the northern province of Hebei after rain triggered floods and landslides, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing the civil affairs department.
Almost 50,000 homes are said to have collapsed in the province, as well as 18,000 damaged in the central province of Henan.
Estimates of deaths, displacements and building collapses are continually being rounded up, meaning further deaths and missing persons should be expected. Photos circulating online showed disturbing images of drowned children lying in mud.
But the tragedy did not surface until Friday, when accounts, purportedly by local residents, began surfacing on Chinese social media of angry villagers blocking roads, accusing the local authorities of failing to notify them in time for evacuation when an upstream reservoir discharged the floodwaters.
Flooding is not uncommon during the summer monsoon season in northern China, but rains have been unusually heavy across the country this summer.
Some residents also claimed that Wednesday’s flood, which struck while villagers were sleeping, was man-made although officials say a levee in a nearby river had broken.
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More than 1.5 million hectares of crops are said to have been damaged as a result of especially heavy rains and flooding in China this year, amounting to losses of more than $3bn (£2.3bn).
