The Hainan province drought relief office issued the warning Monday, the Xinhua news agency said.

By early March, the drought had posed a threat to more than 210,000 hectares of crops, more than half of the province's total arable land, and to 194,000 heads of livestock, Xinhua said.

Among the 20 drought-hit cities and counties in Hainan, Wenchang, Haikou, Shanzhou, Ding'an and Qionghai have been worst-hit, each having lost crops on more than 20,000 hectares of land.

About 238,100 residents in Wenchang have virtually no access to drinkable water, Xinhua said.

Alhough rain fell sporadically in the province last week, it provided little relief.

The amount of water stored at major reservoirs in Hainan was 2.2 billion cubic meters (77 cubic feet) by early March, only 31 percent of the water storage for a normal year, according to the drought relief office.

The office warned that if no big rainfall comes soon, the drought will get worse and more crops will be lost.

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