The Ministry of Water Resources said in a statement on Wednesday that the drought across the Yangtze River basin is “adversely affecting the drinking water security of rural people and livestock, and crop growth.” On Wednesday, central China’s Hubei province became the latest to announce it would create clouds, using silver iodide rods to induce rainfall. At least 4.2 million people in Hubei have been affected by severe drought since June, the Hubei Provincial Department of Emergency Management said on Tuesday. More than 150,000 people there face difficulties accessing drinking water and nearly 400,000 hectares of crops have been damaged by high temperatures and drought. The Yangtze is just one of many rivers and lakes across the northern hemisphere drying up and shrinking amid relentless heat and low rainfall, including Lake Mead in the US and the Rhine River in Germany. These extreme weather conditions have been supercharged by the man-made climate crisis, which is due to the burning of fossil fuels. Communities often rely on these bodies of water for economic activity, and governments must step in with adaptation measures and relief funds, costing huge sums of money. China is using such funds and developing new sources of supply to deal with impacts on crops and livestock. Some animals have been temporarily moved to other areas, the finance ministry said earlier this week, adding that it would issue 300 million yuan ($44.30 million) for disaster relief. To boost supplies downstream, the Three Gorges Dam, China’s largest hydroelectric project, will also increase water discharges by 500 million cubic meters over the next 10 days, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Tuesday. The heat also forced authorities in the southwestern province of Sichuan – home to about 84 million people and a key manufacturing hub – to order all factories to close for six days this week to ease power shortages.
The “longest” and “strongest” heat wave on record
China issued the highest red heat alert for at least 138 cities and counties across the country on Wednesday, and another 373 were placed under the second highest orange alert, the Meteorological Service said. As of Monday, China’s heat wave had lasted 64 days, making it the longest in more than six decades since full records began in 1961, the National Climate Center said in a statement. He also said it was the “strongest” on record and warned it could get worse in the coming days. “The heat wave this time is prolonged, wide in scope and strong in extremes,” the statement said. “Taking all the signs together, the heat wave in China will continue and increase in intensity.” The heat wave has also recorded the highest number of counties and cities exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) since records began, the statement said. The number of weather stations recording temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius and above has reached 262, also the highest. Eight have reached 44 degrees Celsius. Persistent high temperatures are forecast to continue in the Sichuan Basin and large parts of central China until August 26. A “special case” of high pressure from the subtropical high in the western Pacific, which stretches across much of Asia, is likely to be the cause of the extreme heat, said Cai Wenju, a climate researcher at CSIRO, the national institute for scientific research. of Australia. CNN’s Larry Register, Angela Dewan and Laura He contributed to this report.
