beijing.- The Chinese authorities closely follow the meteorological evolution of the country, hit in recent weeks by the most extreme temperatures recorded in six decades in the north and floods in the center and south of its territory that have caused at least 15 deaths.
The national observatory on Thursday renewed an orange alert for high temperatures and predicted that the heat wave would continue for several days.
In some areas that alert has been raised to red, such as in Beijing, where yesterday the thermometers exceeded 40 degrees in most of the city and until next week the maximum is not expected to drop below 37 degrees.
China has a color-coded, three-tier weather warning system for high temperatures, with red representing the most serious warning, followed by orange and yellow.
The heat wave has left records of maximums in the capital, where during the month of June and until July 5, the Nanjiao weather station recorded 18 days with temperatures above 35 degrees and 4 days with temperatures above 40 degrees. .
Along with Beijing, the most affected provinces are Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong and Henan, all of them in the north.
Records have also been broken at the national level according to the China Meteorological Center, since 2023 has been the year with the most days of extreme heat since records began six decades ago.
DROUGHT AND MORE ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
Added to the high temperatures is a worrying drought in the north of the country that could cause problems in the energy supply.
For this reason, and in anticipation of the increase in demand due to the extreme heat, the authorities of the sector announced that they have reinforced the national electrical network with the entry into service of several stations.
The consumption peak this summer is estimated at 1,370 million kilowatts, 80 million more than in the same period of 2022
As an example of the serious situation, in the province of Hebei -neighboring Beijing- there are 750,000 hectares of crops affected by the lack of water and in June the average rainfall was 60% lower than in the same month of previous years .
The scenario is diametrically opposite in the center and south of the country, where floods caused by torrential rains have already left dozens dead and more than a million homeless in central areas such as Chongqing, Hunan, Sichuan and Jiangxi, and in the north. Inner Mongolia.
The Meteorological Center on Friday renewed a blue alert for rain, storms and hailstorms that will affect areas of Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Hebei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou, where accumulations of up to 180 mm.
In addition, the agency asked local governments and the population to take the necessary precautions and urged drivers to be extremely alert due to the possible accumulation of water on the roads.
MORE THAN A DOZEN DEATHS
Until last Wednesday, at least 15 people had died and another 4 remained missing due to torrential rainfall in the city of Chongqing, where eleven rivers saw their flow increase to exceed the established safety limits.
The Chinese government has mobilized 320 million yuan (44 million dollars, 40.6 million euros) from its emergency fund for natural disasters in order to support the most affected regions.
Floods are a frequent phenomenon in China during the rainy season, which usually begins in June and lasts until August or September.
Natural disasters in August 2022 left some 41.8 million homeless and a total of 94 dead or missing in the Asian giant, where torrential rains, floods, landslides and typhoons caused direct damage worth 10,000 millions of dollars.
