Many flood control stations along the river in Anhui Province saw water levels surge more than 1 metre above the safe level yesterday, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Heavy to torrential rain will batter most parts of eastern Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, the country's most severely flood-stricken areas, meteorologists with the China Central Meteorological Station forecast yesterday.

However, in Central China's Hunan Province, more than 3 million people have joined together to fight a drought that has been affecting eight cities since mid-July.

According to the Hunan Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, the temperature has been high in central and southern Hunan since the end of June. A decline in rainfall, a high evaporation rate and increasing water consumption have aggravated the drought in these areas.

By last Sunday, the drought had affected 811 townships in 59 counties under the administration of the cities of Chenzhou, Hengyang, Loudi, Shaoyang, Xiangtan, Yongzhou, Zhuzhou and the provincial capital Changsha.

The drought has damaged crops on 576,000 hectares of farmland in these areas.

Meanwhile, typhoon Koni, which landed in South China's Hainan Province on Monday night, has receded. All maritime transportation and flights have returned to normal.

Ferry services at the Qiongzhou Straits, which separates the island from the mainland, resumed yesterday after a 38-hour suspension. And all trucks and 3,000 passengers stranded by the typhoon were transported across the straits.

Another tropical storm, Typhoon Imbudo, is moving from southern sea areas towards South China's Guangdong Province. It is expected to bring torrential rain in the coming days.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies yesterday launched an appeal for US$5.77 million to help people made homeless by the floods, according to France Hurtubise, the organization's spokeswoman for East Asia.

The Chinese Red Cross is already providing relief assistance in the flooded areas, complementing action taken by the authorities. The international appeal aims to enable the Chinese Red Cross to distribute 110,000 packages - each containing 100 kilograms of rice, a quilt and a mosquito net - to the most affected families.

(China Daily July 23, 2003)