Five people have died in freak weather accidents in north China's Hebei Province during the past week, authorities confirmed on Friday.

The five include two killed by lightning strikes and one killed by a falling structure in Chengde, a popular summer resort in Hebei. The other two were killed by falling structures in Baoding, said a source from the Hebei Provincial Department of Civil Affairs. No further details were available.

Twenty-six counties, cities and urban districts in the province were hit by hailstorms, strong winds and torrential rains between August15 to August18, which -- apart from the five deaths - destroyed 36,500 hectares of cropland and caused 176 million yuan (about US$25.88 million) in economic losses.

Heavy rainfall in north China from Aug.15 through to Aug.19 has partly alleviated drought conditions in the region, said the national Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Liaoning Province in northeastern China had rainfall of 46.7 millimeters from Monday to Thursday because of cloud seeding operations carried out on Monday and Wednesday.

More than 2 million hectares of cropland hit by drought in Liaoning dropped by 603,333 hectares to reach 1.4 million hectares at 3:00 PM on Thursday.

However, the drought situation in Liaoning remains serious, the office said.

In the province 743,900 people and 319,100 head of livestock are still suffering from drinking water shortages. Eighty-five reservoirs have dried up and 20,795 wells are not providing adequate water.

In Shanxi Province it has rained from August 15 to August 19, with a rainfall of 20.2 mm, lessening the area of croplands in the province suffering from drought by 319,333 hectares, the province's office of Flood Control and Drought Relief said.

Shanxi received further rain on Thursday night and it would continue province-wide until Sunday, said the local weather observatory.

The office said the drought situation in Shanxi is still serious, with 780,000 hectares of cropland still parched. Drinking water shortages affect 670,000 people and 160,000 head of stock. Large and medium-sized reservoirs in Shanxi retain 536 million cu m of water, 40 million cu m less than last year.

Nationally, at midday on Thursday, 10.07 million hectares of croplands were suffering from droughts, 600,000 hectares more on average than in previous years. Drinking water shortages are affecting 4.19 million people and 4.52 million head of livestock.

The national State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Thursday convened a meeting to discuss measures to combat droughts across China.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2009)