Since early 2011, a severe drought has lingered in provinces alongside China's Yangtze River. The amount of rainfall in Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces was at its lowest for the past 50 years.

However, three rounds of heavy rains bombarded the southern part of China, such as Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces, triggering severe floods, landslides and other natural disasters since June 3.