The nation's drought relief and flood control agency said Monday recent rains have helped alleviate the severe drought in the regions along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The continuous rains have effectively eased the drought in the central Hunan and eastern Jiangxi provinces, while in Hubei, Jiangsu and Anhui, the drought was also partially degraded, said the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFDH).

The SFDH figures showed that as of midday Monday, the total acreage hit by the drought was sharply reduced to 27.88 million mu (1.86 million hectares) from 56.95 million mu on June 2, when the drought was at its worst.

Some far, 1.2 million people in the drought-hit regions remain short of drinking water, but the number is down sharply from 3.83 million on June 2.

To help relieve the effects of the drought, the Three Gorges Reservoir, on the upper middle reaches of the Yangtze, has been discharging more water to downstream areas.

The SFDH said the reservoir has released 21.5 billion cubic meters of water to downstream areas since the start of the year. Since May, it has released 6.4 billion cubic meters, which has guaranteed the water supply.