CHANGSHA - Almost 400,000 rural residents and 110,000 livestock are facing drinking water shortages in the city of Huaihua, Central China's Hunan province, as a lingering drought has been plaguing the area for a month.

The dry weather, due to lack of rainfall, had withered up 140,000 hectares of crops and dried up more than 1,200 wells, said a spokesman with the Huaihua Municipal Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Friday.

The drought would severely affect the autumn grain output in Huaihua, a typical agricultural region, the spokesman said.

Local authorities have induced artificial rain and allocated special funds to combat the disaster, in addition to dispatching water trucks and relief supplies to the drought-plagued areas, he said.