Three days of rain have eased the drought that has
ravaged China's eastern province of Shandong since September, said the provincial
government sources.
Moderate to heavy rains were recorded in most parts of
the province from Friday evening to Monday morning, with the
rainfall ranging from 25 to 43 millimeters, according to the
Shandong Provincial Hydrology and Water Resources Exploration
Administration.
The acreage of the province's cropland affected by
drought has been reduced to 900,000 hectares from 2.5 million
hectares since rain began to fall.
The cities of Dongying, Weifang, Qingdao, Yantai and
Weihai in the eastern part of the province are still experiencing
drought conditions.
Severe drought since early September left over 1.9
million people short of drinking water in Shandong, according to
local drought relief authorities.
The drought, the province's most serious in 30 years,
also leftover 1.15 million domestic animals short of drinking
water.
Shandong only registered 18
millimeters of rain over the last several months, down 81 percent
of the average rainfall for the period.
Over 100 rivers and streams dried up in Yantai
district alone.
Shandong is one of China's
major grain growing regions, accounting for one-tenth of the
country's total grain output. Winter wheat on 3.33 million hectares
has withered and 233,000 hectares were not even planted because of
the continuing drought.
The recent rain will help improve the soil moisture
and enable some of the winter wheat to survive, according to
agricultural experts.
Drought has also hit other parts of China recently.
According to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA),
rainfall of less than 20 millimeters was recorded in northeast and
north China, the valleys of the Yellow, Huaihe and Yangtze rivers,
as well as parts of central and south China in October.
Rainfall in these areas was down 50 to 90 percent,
while the temperatures were two to four degrees centigrade higher,
according to CMA.
Experts urged drought-hit areas to conserve water to
minimize harm to crops.
(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2006)
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