Rainstorms over the past four days have brought much needed relief to east China's Jiangxi Province, which has been in the grip of drought for 50 days.

An average of 39.4 millimeters of rain fell on the province from 8:00 p.m. last Saturday to 8:00 AM Thursday. But 970,667 hectares of crops are still affected by drought and 1.18 million people are still suffering from drinking water shortages, down 20,667 hectares and 30,000 people from Tuesday.

Drought has also affected the province's fisheries, causing the supply of aquatic products to decline by 87,800 tons and an economic loss of 760 million yuan.

By Tuesday, 142 cargo ships had been stranded on the Ganjiang River, as the water level of the river continued to be lowered by drought. Some of the ships are beginning to move after the recent showers.

Local governments have earmarked 62.64 million yuan for disaster relief while 5.46 million people have been mobilized to fight the drought.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2007)