BEIJING, June 14 -- While millions in the south of the country fight disasters brought by heavy rain, residents of Northeast China are suffering from a sustained drought, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said yesterday.

The drought had affected 10.4 million hectares of cropland nationwide by the end of last week, above average for the time of year, the office said.

And 83 per cent of the total affected area is in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.

The drought means 7.34 million people are short of drinking water, as well as 6.75 million head of cattle, said Zhang Zhitong, an official of the office.

Statistics indicate that about 370 reservoirs in the region are dry, and 984,000 hectares of farmland in Inner Mongolia cannot be planted due to lack of water.

"The spring drought situation in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang equals that of 2001 and 2003," Zhang said. "The situation in Jilin and Liaoning provinces is more serious than in previous years."

More than 60 cities and counties are suffering from drought in Heilongjiang Province, officials said.

Local governments have spent 730 million yuan (US$91.1 million) on measures to ease the drought, the office said.

The Ministry of Finance will also allocate a large amount of relief funds for these affected areas, Zhang said.

In southern China, fresh rainfall is predicted in the next 10 days, raising fears of further disasters, meteorologists said on Monday.

Storms are forecast in East China's Fujian Province, the heaviest-hit area, reports said.

The rainy season in Fujian is predicted to last until June 25, local meteorologists said.

Rain and thunderstorms in the south have also caused delays at Beijing Capital International Airport.

By 3 pm yesterday, at least 100 flights had been postponed because of the weather, said airport official Liu Yanan.

In another development, floods caused by rainstorms left at least 19 people dead and 31 others missing in an ethnic minority prefecture in Southwest China's Guizhou Province yesterday.

Sudden downpours hit Wangmo County, Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture around 10:00 pm on Monday, and continued for 4 hours, causing several flash floods in the mountainous region, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

Officials from the local disaster-relief, transportation and power supply departments have rushed to the county to direct the flood-relief work, the report said.

(Source: China Daily)