A lingering drought has left 190,000 people and 28,000 livestock short of drinking water in Zhaotong, Yunnan Province, local authorities said Thursday.

Severe drought hit?Hunan?Province. [Chinanews.cn]?

Zhaotong suffered a spring drought from January to March, and lack of rainfall since May and high temperatures since mid-July have aggravated the drought situation, said Wu Fengyun, deputy head of the Zhaotong Municipal Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

The dry weather had withered up almost 220,000 hectares of crops and dried up 15 rivers, Wu said.

Direct economic losses from the drought amounted to more than 1.2 billion yuan (188 million U.S. dollars), he said.

Local authorities have dispatched water trucks and relief supplies to the drought-plagued areas and allocated special funds to combat the disaster, he added.

In central China's Hunan, two thirds of the province's territory is suffering from drought, leaving 640,000 residents and 450,000 livestock short of water, said a statement issued by the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters on Thursday.

More than 5,200 fire trucks and other vehicles able to carry water had been mobilized to deliver water to residents for nearly a month, said the statement.

Shipping, commercial fishing and hydropower had also been affected, it said.

The local weather forecast department said rain would likely be seen in August, but the dry weather would return in September.