Liaoning sweats in most severe drought in decades

SHENYANG - Northeast China's Liaoning province is in the midst of the most severe drought since 1951, suffering huge damage to crops and threatening the local people's livelihood.

The province received only 102mm of rain from July 1 to Aug. 17, 60 percent less than normal. It's the smallest amount of precipitation in the region for the past 63 years, making Liaoning the worst hit by drought this summer. The weather is expected to continue through August.

Scorching heat affected 29,275,000 mu (19,517 square km) of crops by Sunday, with 7.07 million mu of crops already dried up. Food production in Liaoning is estimated to decline by 5 billion kg this year.

To combat the catastrophe, the local government has made all-out efforts in building emergency water projects. So far, local authorities have dispatched 81 water tankers and dug 56 wells in areas severely affected by the drought.

A total of 592 million yuan ($96.2 million) has been allocated by the provincial government in the anti-drought fight, while 2.26 million people have been mobilized to help with relief work.

Severe drought has also hit other Chinese provinces such as Henan, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Hubei this summer.