Higher temperatures and little rain in October caused drought in parts of China, with the provinces of Shandong and Hebei, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region suffering worst, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) announced on Thursday.

Rainfall of less than 20 millimeters were recorded in October in northeast and north China, the valleys of the Yellow, Huaihe and Yangtze rivers, as well as parts of central and south China.

The rainfall in these areas was 50 to 90 percent down from the monthly average, while the temperature was two to four degrees centigrade higher, according to the CMA.

In Shandong, the drought had left 1.73 million people and 720,000 livestock short of drinking water, and 2.52 million hectares of farmland were affected, said Wang Bangzhong, deputy head of the Department of Forecasting Services and Disaster Mitigation with the CMA.

The province in north China registered an average rainfall of 3.7 millimeters last month, only 0.9 millimeters more than the driest October in history in 1969.

Rainfall had been low in Guangxi in south China since mid August, which saw an average rainfall of 201.2 millimeters from Aug. 11 to Oct. 31, nearly 50 percent down from the same period in previous years.

Experts urged drought-hit areas to use water efficiently in agricultural production and to minimize harm to crops.

This summer, severe drought left more than 18 million people short of drinking water in 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2006)