China has issued its first national drought alert of the year, as authorities fight wildfires and mobilize specialist teams to protect crops from scorching temperatures in the Yangtze River basin.
The national "yellow alert", issued on Thursday, comes after regions from Sichuan in the southwest to Shanghai in the Delta Yangtze, suffered weeks of extreme heat, with government officials repeatedly citing global climate change as the cause.
The national drought alert is two levels off the most serious alert on the Beijing scale.
In one of the important Yangtze flood basins in Jiangxi province, central China, Lake Poyang has now shrunk to a quarter of its normal size for this time of year, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday.
Some 66 rivers in 34 counties in southwest Chongqing have dried up, state broadcaster CCTV said on Friday.
Rainfall in Chongqing this year is down 60% compared to the seasonal norm, and the soil in several districts is severely lacking in moisture, CCTV said, citing local government data.
Beibei district, north of urban Chongqing, saw temperatures hit 45 degrees Celsius on Thursday, according to China's meteorology bureau.
Chongqing accounted for six of the country's 10 hottest locations on Friday morning, with temperatures in Bishan district already approaching 39 degrees Celsius. Shanghai was already at 37 degrees.
The Chongqing region's infrastructure and emergency services are under increasing pressure, with firefighters on high alert as mountain and forest flames ripple across the region.
State media also reported an increase in heat stroke cases.
The gas utility in the Fuling district also told customers on Friday that it would cut off supplies until further notice as it deals with "serious safety risks".
The Chongqing Agricultural Department has also assembled teams of experts to protect vulnerable crops and expand planting to make up for losses ahead of the autumn harvest.
The Ministry of Water Resources has instructed drought-stricken agricultural regions to establish scales determining who can access supplies at any given time, to ensure they do not run out.
According to data from China's Ministry of Emergencies on Thursday, the high temperatures in July alone caused direct economic losses of approximately US$400 million, affecting 5.5 million people.
Meanwhile, China's National Meteorological Center renewed its high-temperature red alert on Friday, the 30th day in a row it has issued warnings, it said on its Weibo channel.
State meteorologists also predicted that the current heat wave would not begin to subside until August 26.
The meteorological agency said in its daily bulletin that 4.5 million square kilometers of the national territory recorded temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius or more in the past month, that is almost half of the country's total area, with more than 200 weather stations recording records.
Sources: investing.com
