Wild weather wreaks havoc

BEIJING: Several Chinese cities including Shanghai and Beijing braced for flooding while inland regions baked in heat threatening to shrink the country’s biggest freshwater lake.

Wild weather swings have gripped China since April, causing deaths, damaging infrastructure, wilting crops and raising fears over its ability to cope with climate change.

Historically, China enters its peak rainy season in late July, but storms have become more intense and unpredictable, exposing heavily built-up megacities with poor drainage.

Heavy rain lashed financial hub Shanghai on Friday, with precipitation logging 125.4mm within an hour, according to the local weather authority.

Roads in parts of Shanghai became rivers, with cars half-submerged and pedestrians struggling through knee-deep water, videos circulating on China’s social media showed.

In the capital Beijing, authorities deployed more than 2,600 people to drain dozens of pumping stations in advance and clear thousands of water drainage outlets along roads.

Several bus routes plying the suburbs and mountainous areas were halted.

Authorities in Tianjin city also ramped up flood control efforts in the Hai basin, a major northern drainage system.

By contrast, scant rainfall in Jiangxi province has resulted in Poyang Lake, the country’s largest body of fresh water, ebbing to its lowest level for this time of the year since records began in 1951.

Poyang Lake, known as the kidneys of China due to the role it plays in regulating the flow of the Yangtze River, normally swells in summer due to rain and retreats in winter.

Last year, it also unexpectedly shrank due to drought.

The Central Meteorological Observatory has issued warnings for heavy rain in eight provinces and autonomous regions, according to state media.

At a Cabinet meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang, officials said all authorities should prioritise lives and pay attention to flood prevention and drought control, state radio reported.

Meanwhile, temperatures of 35°C and above continued to menace other parts of China.

Northwestern Xinjiang, where temperatures hit a record high 52.2°C last Sunday, remained blanketed in worse-than-usual heat while in neighbouring Gansu province some areas suffered intense heat while others warned of floods and landslides.

Officials have warned repeatedly that China is vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to its large population and unevenly distributed water supplies. — Reuters