Sustained drought over the past four weeks has caused a severe water crisis for over 1.2 million people in central China's Hunan Province while also parching two provinces in east China, authorities said yesterday.

Drought is plaguing 120,000 square kilometers inside Hunan Province, more than half of its total area, said sources from the provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Office.

The dry weather has caused a water shortage for more than 1.2 million people and 700,000 head of cattle in 14,000 villages, they said.

In Guangrong Village, Xinning County, the village's 600 residents have had to ride on horseback six kilometers in order to fetch water from a neighboring village.

Hunan Province has received about 544 millimeters of rainfall in the past two months. That is 25 percent less than the average for the rainy season, according to the provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Office.

Since July 1, the average rainfall has measured only 20 to 50 percent of the average volume.

Lack of rain has left most of the province's 2.04 million water storage facilities half empty. Eight hundred fifty nine reservoirs have dried up.

The water crisis has cut the province's daily power generating capacity by 20 million kilowatt-hours. The provincial capital, Changsha, has suspended power generation at all hydropower stations to save water for drought relief.

The province has also called up 46,000 cadres and 2.39 million laborers to join the drought relief campaign.

The provincial meteorological bureau has predicted that August temperatures will hover around 37 to 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of the province.

High temperatures in neighboring Fujian Province have also caused a drought, affecting the drinking water supplies for 130,000 people and 32,500 livestock.

The high temperatures in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, exceeded 35 degrees Celsius for the 31st consecutive day yesterday. This is the longest hot spell since the city began recording meteorological data in 1880.

Thirty-four cities in the province reported temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius, with Xiamen and Shanyou breaking heat records in July. A month-long drought is also crippling Jiangxi Province in China's east, where 820,000 people and 460,000 head of livestock have been suffering water shortages.

(Shanghai Daily August 1, 2007)