Cloud seeding eases drought in NE China

SHENYANG - Moderate to heavy rains triggered by cloud seeding have helped relieve a persistent drought in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

Much of Liaoning, which is in the midst of the most severe drought since 1951, saw rain from Saturday to Monday, according to a statement from the provincial meteorological administration.

During the period, meteorological workers dispatched planes and rockets to carry out cloud seeding, said the statement. Cloud seeding is a process to induce rain by dispersing chemicals into the air.

The efforts resulted in 360 million cubic meters of rainfall in total, with 100 million cubic meters falling in the worst-hit city of Chaoyang.

The drought has inflicted huge damage on crops and threatened local people's livelihood in the province, where rainfall since July has been 60 percent lower than normal.

Scorching heat had affected 29.28 million mu (1.95 million hectares) of crops as of Sunday, with 7.07 million mu of crops already destroyed. Grain production in the province is expected to decline by 5 billion kg this year.

A total of 592 million yuan (96.2 million U.S. dollars) has been allocated by the provincial government in the anti-drought fight. In addition, the local government is building emergency water projects.