Rain relieves drought along Huaihe River

China's drought relief authority said on Tuesday that recent rain has helped relieve a drought that has plagued areas along the Huaihe River for several weeks.

Heavy rain has been falling on Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces since Friday, with accumulated precipitation reaching 37 mm. It has done much to relieve the lingering drought, according to a statement posted on the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters' website.

Due to the timely rain, as of Tuesday, 17.27 million mu (1.15 million hectares) of arable land in the four provinces were classified as suffering drought conditions, sharply down from 40.88 million mu at the end of June, according to the statement.

As of Tuesday, 240,000 people in the four provinces were short of drinking water, down from 600,000 people at the end of last month.

The country's meteorological authority forecast that another round of rain will hit areas along the Huaihe River from Monday to Wednesday, but the water level on its trunk stream will still remain low, the statement said.