Southern part of east China's Fujian Province is suffering drought, as more than 175,000 people had drinking water shortage and more than 53,200 hectares of crops were affected by mid-October, a provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters official said Friday.

Quanzhou and Zhangzhou were the worst-hit cities, he said.

Local flood control and drought relief authorities said Friday that of the crops affected, 1,520 hectares of cash crops and grain had scorched in Zhangzhou City, where farming conditions are best in the province.

According to the authorities, Zhangzhou, which is famous for yielding fruits and flowers, saw precipitation decrease by 1.8 percent to 45.7 percent in counties under its jurisdiction from January to September, in comparison with the same period of past decades.

Water storage in all reservoirs in the city is now only equivalent to some 30 percent of their aggregated normal capacity.

Quanzhou, a leading industrialized city also in southern Fujian, has recorded precipitation of 896 mm so far this year, more than 30 percent less than average for the same period of each of the past 60 years, according to the municipal meteorological bureau.

Coastal areas of the city had suffered drought for more than 50 days in a row, the bureau said, adding that the drought that hit the areas this summer was the worst since 1993.

Hong Zesheng, vice mayor of Quanzhou, said the city would likely, if necessary, restrict or suspend water supplies for resources-gobbling sectors, and take measures to increase rainfalls artificially.

According to experts with the local water resources authorities in Zhangzhou city, the drought will probably become worse in the coming months in the southern part of Fujian, where usually record less precipitation in autumn and winter after the typhoon season ends in October.