CHONGQING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Boiling weather and drought willcontinue in most parts of central and southwestern China with meteorologists forecasting little rainfall over the next three days.

    The weather forecast said temperatures will hover around 41 degrees Celsius Wednesday in Chongqing Municipality, one of the hottest cities in southwest China.

    This is some relief for many Chongqing citizens because the maximum daytime temperature reached 44.5 degrees Celsius Tuesday in Qijiang county and 42 degrees Celsius in many other places.

    In Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, temperatures are expected to hit 39 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the central meteorological station predicted.

    Searing heat and drought have created problems for the supply of drinking water in Chongqing and Hunan Province, leaving about 7.8 million people thirsty.

    More than 7.5 million people in 40 counties in Chongqing have been panting for drinking water since severe drought started in mid May.

    "The village well has dried up and even the dusty water at the bottom has been scooped up," said Gu Qixiu, a villager in Zhangguan town, Yubei District. "The townsfolk have been sending us water wagons and each family gets two buckets of water a day."

    Gu said the arid cropland is unlikely to yield a cent this year. "Even sweet potatoes refuse to grow in the arid land."

    "This is the worst drought to hit Chongqing in 50 years," said He Lingyun, a disaster relief official with the municipal government. "Two-thirds of the local rivers and lakes have dried up and more than 200 reservoirs are stagnant."

    Drinking water shortages have affected another 270,000 people in central Hunan Province, where the mercury has been flirting with 40 degrees Celsius over the past few days.

    On Sunday, after a power cut led to equipment failure, the water supply was shut down in Huaihua, a city in central China's Hunan Province, leaving about 150,000 people -- or 40 percent of the local population -- thirsty for three days.

    Public health authorities in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, said on Tuesday that a 30-year old tourist had died of heliosis on Monday after emergency treatment failed.

    The man, from northwest Qinghai Province, fell ill on the trainand was rushed to a hospital when the train arrived in Nanjing.

    With temperatures hovering around 36 degrees Celsius, despite occasional thundershowers, the city's meteorological department has warned citizens to take precautions during the heatwave. Enditem