700 Feared Dead in Eastern China Floods

BEIJING — Searchers recovered the bodies of 31 more victims of floods spawned by record-breaking rains that battered drought-stricken eastern China, and official news reports said Wednesday that up to 700 people may have been killed.

Officially, 256 people have died in the floods in eastern Zhejiang province, which authorities described as the worst to hit China in 40 years.

The death toll is likely to rise, with 449 people still reported missing and presumed dead in three counties in the coastal province, which was among the hardest-hit in a recent heat wave that claimed more than 1,440 lives, Shanghai’s Liberation Daily newspaper said.