A firefighter fills up containers with clean water for drought-hit residents in Shangluoyuan village in Leping city, east China's Jiangxi province, October 24, 2009.

Lingering drought continues to play havoc in southern and eastern China, stunting rice crops, lowering water levels in reservoirs and leaving hundreds of thousands of people shot of drinking water, Xinhua News Agency reported.[

A farmer walks on a dried-up field at Sanshigang Village of Hefei, Anhui province October 25, 2009.

Lingering drought continues to play havoc in southern and eastern China, stunting rice crops, lowering water levels in reservoirs and leaving hundreds of thousands of people short of drinking water, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The water level of Yangtze River drops to a record low near Tianxingzhou Bridge in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, October 24, 2009.