Reports from the Yangtze River Administration say that the water level in the Wuhan section of the Yangtze was 15.54 metres at 2:00pm on 17 May, compared with 21 metres at the same time last year. The rain volume in the area over the past five months was less than half the total over the same period last year, causing a severe drought in what otherwise would be the beginning of the flood season. Weather forecasts predicts another 10 warm days ahead without rain.

Elsewhere in the middle reaches, the water level in Wuhu has been hovering at 2 metres for the past seven months, making it the longest dry season on record. On 17 May, the water level was 1.51 metres, nearly 4 metres below the level of one year ago.