Severe flooding is still drenching areas in south China, with rivers on the brink of bursting their banks and people in danger of losing their homes.

A sudden flood in Ning'an, Heilongjiang Province in northeast China alone killed 27 students and two villagers on Friday. Heavy rainfall has caused the water level in the trunk streams of the Huaihe River, the country's third longest river that zigzags through central and east China, to rise, while tributaries of the Yangtze River have also swollen in the Three Gorges area.

The worst-hit provinces are Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as Chongqing Municipality, statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show.

The State Flood-control and Drought Relief Headquarters said there were more than 10 centimeters of rain in parts of Hunan and Henan provinces.

"The rain belt that has been battering eight provinces since May 31 is now moving south," a spokesman said.

The flood control headquarters urged authorities to strengthen flood controls along major rivers in the days ahead.

Yet in Yunnan Province, more than 7 million people are desperately short of drinking water after the worst drought for decades.

Farmland in Hainan Province and parts of north China have been scorched, threatening livestock and crop production.

The Ministry of Water Resources opened an exhibition about water conservation on Friday in Beijing to demonstrate how advanced technology and better water supply could be used to avert flood and drought.

The National Development and Reform Commission and five other ministries have outlined their first policy guide to water-saving technology to be adopted in key sectors.

(China Daily June 11, 2005)