Drought in Israel (file)
Drought in Israel (file)Flash 90

As a severe drought continues in the Yangtze River region, China has launched a weather modification plan, including planes using silver iodide rods to seed clouds.

The heatwave in China is the worst in recorded history, CNN reported.

Several parts of the Yangtze are using weather modification programs, but the cloud cover has been so thin in recent months that the operation in certain parts of the region have had to be paused.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Water Resources said in a statement that the Yangtze river basin drought was "adversely affecting drinking water security of rural people and livestock, and the growth of crops."

Hubei province in central China announced this week it would seed clouds using silver iodide to create rainfall, becoming the more recent province to announce a weather modification program.

Over 4.2 million people in Hubei have been struggling since a severe drought began drying up the region in June, the province’s Emergency Management Department said on Tuesday.

Over 150,000 are at risk of losing access to drinking water and nearly one million acres of crops have been negatively impacted by scorching templates and drought conditions.