In the first five months this year, water flowing into Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, was below half that in the same period last year, officials said.  

According to the flood and drought control office of east China's Jiangxi Province where the lake is located, long heat waves last year diminished water reserves in the soil and the groundwater level subsided a lot. As a result, a large amount of rainwater this year was absorbed by soil and reservoirs upstream, reducing flow into the lake.

Moreover, rainfall from January to mid-June was reduced by about 10 percent and the precipitation was a record low in two decades, according to the office.

The office has warned of dual possibilities of drought in some areas and flooding in other parts as the flood season is coming.

(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2004)