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Latest development of severe drought in China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-23 21:23
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BEIJING - Rain fell in parts of drought-stricken Guizhou from Monday to Tuesday, offering some respite to the mountainous province in southwest China hit by the worst drought in 60 years.

However, there was still no rain in the western and southwestern parts of Guizhou, which is hardest hit by the disaster, the provincial meteorological bureau said Tuesday in a statement.

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Central, eastern and northern parts of Guizhou received rainfall in the 24 hours through 8 am Tuesday, with the highest rainfall in northern county of Fenggang reaching 113.7 mm, said the statement.

Local authorities have taken artificial precipitation measures to induce rainfall to help ease the drought that started last July and has left more than 3 million Guizhou residents short of food.

They have fired rockets loaded with cloud seeding chemicals into sky in 168 sites in 46 counties of Guizhou, said the statement.

The agency forecast that the southwestern and southern parts of Guizhou will see showers Tuesday night and the whole province will see more light rain from Wednesday to Thursday.

The drought has been ravaging in southwest China for months, including Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guangxi. It has left 20 million residents with drinking water shortage and caused direct economic losses of 19 billion yuan ($2.8 billion).

The drought also affected water flow into the Three Gorges reservoir in the Yangtze River, the country's largest.

Water level in the reservoir had fallen by 16 meters to 155.6 meters high by Tuesday morning. This occurred 50 days earlier compared with last year, the China Three Gorges Corporation said Tuesday.

The water level of the Three Gorges reservoir falls in every winter-spring season due to less rainfall, before it rises in summer.

In the northwestern province of Gansu where drought is routine, the dry weather has affected 1.1 million hectares of crops and left 720,000 people and 760,000 head of livestock with drinking water shortage.