A WORSENING drought in North China is shrinking the once-mighty Yellow River, one of the country’s main waterways, while the death and damage toll from severe flooding in other areas continues to rise.In Shandong Province, a section of the river was in danger of running dry because of the drought.Rainfall in the coastal province, through which the Yellow River pours into the sea, averaged just 13 mm in the past two months, an 85 percent drop from the year before.Elsewhere in China, floods triggered by torrential rains have killed over 800 people since May. The perennial floods and worsening droughts have prompted officials to consider plans to divert water from the flood-prone Yangtze River basin northward to supplement the Yellow River.Some 7.9 million people and 6.3 million head of livestock in the north face drinking water shortages as reservoirs run dry and the ground water table falls.Water levels in reservoirs supplying cities in 16 provinces have fallen drastically. (SD-Agencies)