Governors in the Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna regions -- Italy's industrial and agricultural heartland -- have already asked for state help and their counterparts in the nearby Lombardy and Venice regions were planning to do the same.

"Water supplies are guaranteed until the end of the month; but if it doesn't rain we'll have to decide what our priorities are -- agriculture or the industry," Italy's civil protection chief, Guido Bertolaso warned Sunday.

A state of emergency simplifies procedures to allocate funds to affected regions.

The Po which drains most of northern Italy fell to a record 7.58 metres (over 24 feet) below its normal level at the weekend.

The river normally carries up to 1,200 cubic meters of water a second but has been seen to swell up to 3,000 cubic meters. On Sunday it carried no more than 350 cubic meters of water a second.

In the Venice area which is among the worst hit by the drought rainfalls amounted to 40 percent less in the first six months of 2003 than the average rain recorded in the same period over the last 30 years.

TERRA.WIRE