2023-07-05 15:24:59
China alternates droughts and floods while collecting the higher temperatures in decades. It is yet another intense summer, a corollary to the fact that climatic disorders are structural and that few countries are more exposed than China. And the worst, the meteorological authorities fear, is yet to come: this Monday they warned that they expect “multiple natural disasters such as floods, typhoons and high temperatures” in this July that has just begun.
Las torrential rains and its effects push the spotlights towards the center of the country. fifteen people have died in the macrocity of Chongqing and 85,000 have been displaced, according to public television. They have been sent to the area 400 teams of emergency to deal with the floods that have also ruined bridges and other infrastructure. Nearly half a million people have been affected in neighboring Sichuan province by the rains. In Hunan they have forced the evacuation of 10,000 people and left damage for the equivalent of 80 million euros. Television and social networks show miraculous rescues like that of a couple trapped on the roof of their car in the middle of a violent torrent of water that received life jackets and ropes from a drone.
He chinese president, Xi Jinping yesterday ordered various ministries to give “top priority” to protecting lives and property, and on Wednesday flood warnings were extended to the northeastern provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang. Two years ago, 400 people died in the central province of Henan after a deluge that the national press described as “the worst in a millennium.”
Fifteen days at more than 35 degrees
only the most bold they sit on the Pekingese terraces before the sun goes down. there is no shortage of sweltering heatwaves in the capital but none like this. Last month they counted 14 days with temperatures of 35 degrees and a handful over 40. It was the hottest June since China started the records more than 60 years ago. Some 70 meteorological stations in the country have recorded their historical recordsthere are already four regional heat waves in just one summer month and an even more torrid July and August are expected.
The picture suggests another agricultural drama. The drought last year, the most acute in half a century, affected more than six million hectares and decimated the harvest. The lack of water current has already extended to half of the past year and rainfall in the humid province of Yunnan has fallen by more than 50%. In the center, the country’s traditional breadbasket, the problem has been the opposite: the strong rains accelerated the germination of wheat and 15 % was separated from human consumption.
He heat It has skyrocketed the demand for energy, necessary for conditioned appliances, and has already caused supply cuts in various regions. These days in China, the forced stoppage of the manufacturing sector two years ago due to the power shortage.
The Chinese know as ‘sanfu’ the three ten-day periods of extreme heat and humidity during the summer in which the traditional medicine advises against las Cold drinks to avoid thermal contrasts to the body. The 30 days were extended last year to an unprecedented 40 and it does not seem that this will be any different.
They are not rare floods in central and southern China in the season of monsoon. The overflows of the Yantze River, a horizontal scar, have caused cyclical mortality. Nor are they rare droughts. But the experts repeat that the extreme weather events gain in frequency and intensity. China is especially fragile in the face of ‘El Niño’ and other phenomena of global warming due to its demography, size and scarce water resources.
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