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![Residents fetch water from a puddle at Longtou village of Zhifang town in Songxian county in Henan province on August 4, 2014. The province is suffering from record draught in 63 years. [Photo: China News Service / Wang Zhongju]](http://www.ecns.cn/2014/0805/201485155322.jpg "Residents fetch water from a puddle at Longtou village of Zhifang town in Songxian county in Henan province on August 4, 2014. The province is suffering from record draught in 63 years. [Photo: China News Service / Wang Zhongju]")
Zhengzhou (CNS) – Central China's Henan province is weathering its worst drought in 63 years, with more than 742,000 people in the province experiencing water shortages.
The drought has lasted two months. Statistics from the Henan Climate Center show that since June, average rainfall in the province has been 96 millimeters, 60 percent less than in an average year, reaching its lowest level since 1951.
The total water storage of 21 large and medium-sized reservoirs is 2.661 billion cubic meters, 1.527 billion cubic meters less than the same time in an average year. In Songxian, a heavily stricken county, 15 of 31 small-sized reservoirs have dried up, and three rivers have stopped flowing.
Agriculture in the province has taken a beating, with more than 25 million acres of crops damaged.
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