The death toll from flash floods in a county in central China's Henan Province, has reached 78 and 18 are still missing, local authorities said on Friday.

Lushi County, in western Henan, was hit by continuous torrential rains from Saturday till Monday, which triggered flash floods and damaged transport, power, communications and other facilities in ten townships, said a spokesman with the provincial department of civil affairs.

The floods destroyed more than 6,000 houses and more than 6,667 hectares of cropland, he said.

The county saw an average rainfall of 361 mm last month, or 360 percent the average level, close to the record of 368.8 mm seen in 1958, he said.

The provincial government has dispatched relief teams to the areas to help local residents rebuild homes and resume production.

In addition to fierce rains and flash floods, a lack of monitoring systems and inadequate flood prevention expertise in the remote, mountainous and usually arid county were to blame for the huge casualties and great losses, said Yang Biantong, deputy director of the provincial flood-prevention office.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2007)