BEIJING - Droughts in China so far this year have been less serious than in previous years because of rainy weather in central and southern parts of the country.

About 14.71 million mu (980,667 hectares) of crops are in need of water, much less than the average of 118 million mu in previous years. Most of the crops are in Inner Mongolia, as well as Henan, Shanxi and Hubei provinces, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Henan Province have suffered less.

Meanwhile, persistent heavy rain has been battering southern and central China.

The National Meteorological Center on Saturday renewed Friday's yellow alert for rainstorms and warned that torrential rain will continue in central and southern China over the weekend.