Tropical storms Pabuk and Wutip have brought brief downpours in central China's Hunan Province and slightly eased the prolonged drought which has left more than one million people short of drinking water, local meteorologists said Thursday.

The storms also cooled down the heat in central-southern areas of the province from 40.3 degrees Celsius (about 104 Fahrenheit degrees) to 37.4 degrees Celsius (about 99.3 Fahrenheit degrees), experts with the provincial meteorological observatory said.

Wutip, the eighth tropical storm approaching China, will bring more rains to the province in the coming three days, they said.

Wutip weakened to a tropical depression Thursday and may make landfall on China's coastal areas at Thursday night, according to the meteorological observatory of eastern Zhejiang Province.

A prolonged drought in the province had left around 1.45 million people and 700,000 livestock short of drinking water as of Tuesday, according to the provincial water resources department.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2007)