Central China’s Jiangxi Province has declared the highest level of danger to its water supply for the first time since Poyang freshwater lake, the country’s largest, shrunk to a record low, the provincial government said.

Poyang Lake, normally a vital drain for the Yangtze River, China’s longest, has been drying up since June, with water levels at a key observation point falling from 19.43 meters to 7.1 meters in the past three months.

The Jiangxi Provincial Water Resources Monitoring Center said that the water level in Poyang will fall further in the coming days, and the amount of precipitation will be minimal. She said that rainfall since July was 60% less than the previous year.

As many as 267 weather stations across China reported record temperatures in August, and a prolonged drought in the Yangtze River Basin has cut hydroelectric power production and damaged crops ahead of the fall harvest.

Although heavy rains have eased the drought in most parts of southwest China, the central regions are still suffering, with severe dry conditions lasting more than 70 days in Jiangxi province.