#China #hit #drought #worst #heat #wave #record
Official data showed half of China’s vast territory is now being hit by drought, including parts of the frigid Tibetan Plateau — with higher temperatures forecast Thursday for hundreds of millions of people enduring the country’s hottest summer on record .
The world’s second largest economy has been hit by record heat, flash floods and droughts – phenomena scientists say are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change.
South China has recorded its longest uninterrupted period of high temperatures since records began more than 60 years ago, the agriculture ministry said this week.
Experts have said the heatwave’s intensity, scale and duration could make it one of the worst in world history.
A graph from the National Climate Center on Wednesday showed that parts of southern China — including the Tibetan Plateau — were experiencing “severe” to “extraordinary” drought conditions.
The hardest-hit area — the Yangtze River Basin, stretching from the coast of Shanghai to Sichuan province in southwest China — is home to over 370 million people and contains several manufacturing hubs, including the megacity of Chongqing.
China’s weather agency forecast sustained high temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Chongqing and Sichuan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces on Thursday.
China’s State Council on Wednesday announced a 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) subsidy to help rice farmers suffering from drought conditions that authorities have warned pose a “serious threat” to represent this year’s autumn harvest.
China produces more than 95 percent of the rice, wheat and corn it consumes, but a smaller harvest could mean increased demand for imports in the world’s most populous country – putting further pressure on global supplies already hampered by the conflict in the world Ukraine are tense.
Officials also called for “a combination of measures to increase water sources to combat the drought, first ensuring people have drinking water, ensuring water for agricultural irrigation,” the ad added.
The CCTV news program on Wednesday night showed trucks supplying villagers facing shortages of drinking and agricultural water in rural Sichuan and Chongqing, with remote mountainous areas particularly hard hit.
Temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) have prompted several Chinese provinces to impose industrial blackouts as cities struggle to cope with a surge in electricity demand caused in part by people turning up the air conditioning.
Record low water levels on the Yangtze have also put pressure on the region’s hydropower generators.
The heat broke records in Sichuan, where a temperature of 43.9 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) was recorded on Wednesday afternoon, the province’s Meteorological Service Center said in a statement.
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