SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s southwest regions of Chonqging and Sichuan battled wildfires on Tuesday as they awaited a long-awaited drop in temperatures next week, but the country’s important autumn harvest remains under serious threat.
Officials warned this month that temperatures are rising faster in China than the rest of the world and a record heat wave has raised concerns about the country’s ability to adapt to rapid climate change and conserve already scarce water resources.
Satellite images showed Lake Poyang, which often receives floodwaters from the Yangtze River during the summer, at a fraction of its normal size for the time of year, reducing drinking water supplies to nearby communities, state broadcaster CCTV said. .
Water from the Three Gorges and Danjiangkou reservoirs had already been released to alleviate the shortage, the broadcaster said.
The drought poses a “severe threat” to China’s autumn crops, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement, adding that authorities were instructed to do everything they could to increase water supplies and protect the crop.
Farmers who suffer severe damage to crops will be required to replant, and cloud bombardments will be made available whenever possible, the ministry said.
Forecasters said the heat wave, which has lasted more than two months, is about to reach a “tipping point”, with a cold front coming in from the west and a typhoon approaching in the southeast.
Still, severe electricity shortages continued across the region, with Sichuan’s capital Chengdu turning off the lights on its subway trains to save energy.
Despite the energy deficit, which has led to restrictions on industrial use, economists at the ANZ said in a note that China is unlikely to see a repeat of last year’s domestic energy shortage caused by a coal shortage.
Although a heat “red alert” remains in effect for the 12th day, temperatures are expected to drop in the central regions by Wednesday, and in Sichuan and Chongqing from Aug 29, the National Meteorological Center said on its Weibo channel.
Authorities also issued a fire “red alert”, warning that the situation is “extremely dangerous” in the forested areas of central and southern Chongqing and eastern Sichuan, China’s official news service reported.
Chongqing and Sichuan, where rainfall was 80% less than normal, have had to deal with 19 wildfires since Aug. 14, according to the Caixin financial news service.
The ministry said it had sent more than 2,800 firefighters to Chongqing and Sichuan to help.
(Reporting by David Stanway and editorial from Beijing)
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