Drought persists in East China's Anhui

HEFEI -- Eleven cities in east China's Anhui Province suffered from drought due to high temperatures and little rainfall since September, the provincial emergency management department said Tuesday.

As of Monday, a total of 412,700 hectares of crops were affected by the lingering drought, causing direct economic losses of 1.61 billion yuan (about $227.5 million), it said.

The meteorological department said the drought will continue to batter the province in the next week.