Beijing, Aug 4 (IANS) A drought has left 190,000 people and 28,000 livestock short of drinking water in Yunnan province, authorities said Thursday.

Zhaotong city suffered a spring drought from January to March, and lack of rainfall since May and high temperatures since mid-July have aggravated the drought situation, said Wu Fengyun, an official.

The dry weather had withered almost 220,000 hectares of crops and dried up 15 rivers, Xinhua quoted Wu as saying.

Economic losses from the drought amounted to more than 1.2 billion yuan ($188 million), he said.

In central China's Hunan province, two-thirds of the territory is suffering from drought due to which 640,000 locals and 450,000 livestock are facing water shortage, said a statement.

Shipping, commercial fishing and hydropower had also been affected, it said.

The local weather forecast department said rain would likely be seen in August, but the dry weather would return in September.