Drought-hit Liaoning Province in northeast China is expected to receive moderate and heavy rains starting from Wednesday, the provincial observatory said on Tuesday.

The long-anticipated rain would "obviously" relieve the two-month-long drought that led to drinking water shortage for 792,200 people and 242,200 livestock in the province, said Yuan Zipeng, deputy director of the observatory.

In order to increase the rainfall, the provincial bureau has prepared 1,269 rocket shells along with three aircraft to seed the clouds, Yuan said.

A severe drought has hit China's northern parts and affected 170 million mu (11.33 million hectares) of crops, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Among the total affected crops, 62.99 million mu suffered serious drought and 16.08 million mu dried up. About 3.9 million people and about 4.37 million livestock had difficulties getting water.

In Liaoning alone, 32 million hectares of farmland were hit by the drought.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2009)