Beijing recorded 9.8 days in a row with temperatures topping 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), the National Weather Center said on Monday.
The last such streak was documented in 1961, decades before most city dwellers had air conditioning or even fans. The lack of rain could be contributing to the high temperatures, as the capital, where there is little rainfall, has had even less rain than usual this year.
Although temperatures have dropped a bit — it was 33 degrees Celsius (91 F) at noon Monday — they were expected to rise again this week to 39.6 degrees Celsius (103 Fahrenheit) in Beijing and other parts of the country, according to authorities.
Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people were rushed to safety due to flooding in central Hunan province, the Xiang’xi Emergency Management Office said on Sunday.
Some 70 houses collapsed, 2,283 were damaged and crop fields were flooded. Estimates of losses at the moment reached 575 million yuan (79 million dollars) as a minimum.
To the north, in Shaanxi province’s Zhenba county, authorities reported the worst flooding in 50 years, which destroyed roads and damaged homes.
So far no deaths from the floods had been reported.
The heat this summer has been unusual, although China experiences regular summer floods. Eleven provinces – about half of China’s land area – were expected to receive heavy rain in the coming days, especially in the country’s humid south.
More than 300 people died in 2021 in the central province of Henan. Record rains flooded the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on July 20, turning streets into torrents and inundating at least part of a metro line.
The worst floods in recent history in China occurred in 1998, when 4,150 people died, mostly in the Yangtze River basin.
FUENTE: Associated Press
