Heavy rains recently will help ease a serious drought affecting northern parts of the county over the last few weeks. The rainfall occurred over the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Hebei. Earlier, in some areas, precipitation since June has been reported to be 40 to 60 percent lower than normal. Unconfirmed reports estimate that by mid July, more than 20 million hectares of farmland had been affected by the drought. Widespread rain is still needed to maintain average yield prospects for summer crops. In contrast in southern and eastern parts of the country, heavy rains and floods have killed an estimated 101 people and damaged 4.2 million hectares of farmland. Drier, warmer weather is needed across southern parts. Notwithstanding the drought and floods official reports indicate that aggregate grain production this year will be around 484 million tons, slightly lower than last year's record 490 million tons. Official estimates put the summer grain harvest at 123.95 million tons, some 9 million tons higher than earlier forecast and 10.75 million tons above last year.