Huge parts of China have been affected by some of the worst drought conditions in decades. Fishermen, farmers, and wildlife have been enduring hardships for months now. In an effort to alleviate the crisis, China's Three Gorges Dam has been discharging water to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, since early June, a series of torrential rainstorms has been pounding southern China, overwhelming parched farmlands and triggering some of the worst flooding since 1955. So far, 175 have been reported dead and 86 missing. Chinese officials say they plan to double investments in water conservation projects, as the country deals with a shortage of 40 billion cubic meters of water each year. Gathered below are recent images from China, a nation that has been coping first with too little water, then with far too much.
Floods Follow Drought in China
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Farmer Lu Keshuang holds his rake as he takes a break from turning the soil in his drought-affected field near the village of Zhuanghuyu, located 80 kilometers north of Beijing, on February 23, 2011. China's long drought in northern wheat areas has been alleviated by recent heavy rains. #
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Water drips from a sprinkler head near residential apartment buildings in Beijing, China, on Thursday, March 24, 2011. China plans to double its investment in water conservation projects as cities face shortages. Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei says two-thirds of Chinese cities have trouble accessing water. Every year the country is short of 40 billion cubic meters of water. #
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In this photo taken June 2, 2011, a fishing boat is left abandoned in the bottom of the dried-up Poyang Lake, a vast wetland turned dry by China's worst drought in decades, in Xingzi in Jiangxi Province, China. #
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Villagers irrigate a wheat field with water collected from a nearby pond in drought-affected Songxian county, Henan province February 22, 2011. China's drought-hit wheat-growing areas shrank further as of Sunday as irrigation expanded, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Monday. #
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A man walks on a river shoal, which appeared after the water level of the Yangtze River declined, as the city of Wuhan is seen in the background, in Wuhan, Hubei province, on May 26, 2011. #
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A fishing boat lies stranded among fishing poles, which are normally almost completely underwater at this time of the year, at Honghu Lake, near Honghu city in central China's Hubei province, on May 29, 2011. #
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In this photo taken June 2, 2011, a bird observation platform stands in the dried-up Poyang Lake, a vast wetland turned dry by China's worst drought in decades, in Yongxiu in Jiangxi Province, China. #
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A girl puts on her boots near a flooded tunnel in Wuhan, Hubei province, on June 18, 2011. More than one million people in China have been evacuated following downpours that have raised water levels in rivers to critical highs, and triggered floods and landslides. Summer rains have left more than 150 people dead or missing so far, and weather authorities warned that flood-hit areas across the southern half of China would experience a fresh round of heavy rainfall. #
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A paramilitary policeman walks on a bridge in the flood-hit Wangmo county, Guizhou province June 6, 2011. In the southwest province of Guizhou, the easing of drought swung to flooding that killed 9 people and left 13 missing in Wangmo County. Torrential rains there overwhelmed the local river and flooded the county seat and other towns, forcing 6,000 people to leave, Xinhua news agency reported. #
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A man paddles through a flooded area in Banshan Cun, Zhejiang province, on June 17, 2011. Pelting rain in parts of central and southern China has forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes and prompted the government to demand safety checks on vulnerable dams, news reports said on Thursday. #
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Fishermen prepare food on their boat on the River Brahmaputra in Gauhati, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. According to media reports, China is considering a new plan to divert the Brahmaputra waters from its upper reaches to fight drought conditions in its northwestern territories. Worried that any diversion of the river by China could impact his state, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will meet Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday to ask him to take up the issue with the neighboring country, according to a news report. #
AP Photo/ Anupam Nath
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