The worst drought in a century has lingered in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality since September last year, affecting more than 50 million people and leaving almost 20 million people and millions of livestock short of drinking water.

Water shortages were likely to increase in April, and consequently meeting the water demand for people's daily uses and agricultural production would be more challenging, said Chen Lei, deputy chief of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

As of Wednesday, the drought, which hit southwestern China last year, has left 19.4 million people with water shortages and affected 97.2 million mu (6.48 million hectares) of farmland in provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the city of Chongqing.

"The climate environment is very abnormal this year with increasing complicated and uncertain factors," Chen said, warning that there was increasing possibility that the drought-affected areas might also suffer from flooding in the future. However, he did not elaborate.

He urged local authorities to prepare for possible flooding while continuing the drought relief work.