Jon Leyne reports: "It's China that's been worst affected"

The International Red Cross has launched an appeal for food and clothing for more than 60 million people who it says have been affected by flooding along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River - the country's largest waterway.

A state of emergency has been declared in the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui.

Jim Roberstson of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent

Fears are growing that the Yellow River in the north east may also burst its banks.

The government has already moved tens of thousands of people from low-lying areas along the Yellow River.

"The fear is that due to the length of the flood season in China, we haven't seen the worst of it yet," said Red Cross official Jim Robertson.

Crops destroyed

Salt deposits along the lower reaches Yellow River have raised the river bed by up to five metres, according to the China Daily newspaper.

Extra troops have been send to worst-affected areas

Armed police stationed along the Yellow, Huaihe, and Songhua rivers have set up flood-fighting headquarters where the water is above the danger level.

Whole roads and railways are under water. Crops and paddy fields have also been destroyed by the deluge.

Chinese authorities have warned that much wider damage could be caused if the Yellow River floods, since it runs high above the surrounding countryside due to heavy silting.

Vulnerable to disease

Each summer floods triggered by seasonal rains devastate wide areas of China. Millions of people remain vulnerable to waterborne diseases.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes: "There is still four to six weeks of the flooding season remaining"

Last summer, the entire Yangtze basin - home to some 400 million people - was hit by the worst floods in decades. More than 4,000 people perished in the flooding, which caused damage worth Yuan 200bn ($25bn).

A massive upgrading of the flood prevention and relief facilities of the Yangtze River was launched after the flooding.

Central and local governments spent three times more money than normal on repairing and upgrading dykes, dams and other flood control systems.