Drought affects over 3 mln people in Hubei  

湖北26縣市出現旱情致328萬余人受災

6月20日14時，中國國家減災委、民政部針對湖北省局部區域嚴重旱災啟動國家四級救災應急響應。民政部救災司副司長李保俊于20日下午帶領工作組赴湖北省災區查看災情，指導開展救災工作。

Wuhan (CNS) -- China's Ministry of Civil Affairs on Wednesday raised a national fourth-grade disaster alert in response to a severe drought in Hubei Province.

Li Baojun, a disaster relief official, led a team to the area to guide relief work.

According to local authorities, the northern area of Hubei has seen scant rainfall since December 2011. Some counties and cities have received 55 percent less precipitation than usual.

As of Wednesday, about 3.29 million people in 26 cities and counties had been affected by drought in the province. 1.17 million of them were in urgent need of help. 247,000 hectares of crops have been affected, of which 11,000 hectares cannot be harvested.