Nationwide alert issued with south-west especially badly hit, as major companies forced to suspend work
The dried-out riverbed of the Jialing river, a major tributary of the Yangtze in Chongqing, China. Photograph: EPA
A record-breaking drought has caused some rivers in China – including parts of the Yangtze – to dry up, affecting hydropower, halting shipping, and forcing major companies to suspend operations.
A nationwide drought alert was issued on Friday as a long-running and severe heatwave in China’s heavily populated south-west was forecast to continue well into September.
The loss of water flow to China’s extensive hydropower system has sparked a “grave situation” in Sichuan, which gets more than 80% of its energy from hydropower.
On Sunday the provincial government declared it was at the highest warning level of “particularly severe”, with water flow to Sichuan’s hydropower reservoirs dropping by half. The demand for electricity has increased by 25% this summer, local media reported. The reduction in hydropower has also reportedly affected downstream populations, including Chongqing city and Hubei province.
Last week Sichuan suspended or limited power supply to thousands of factories and rationed public electricity usage due to the shortage. Toyota, Foxconn and Tesla are among companies reported to have temporarily suspended operations at some plants over the last fortnight. On Sunday the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported plans to restart production this week had been postponed.
The Yangtze is the world’s third largest river, providing drinking water to more than 400 million Chinese people, and is the most vital waterway to China’s economy. It is also crucial to the global supply chain, but this summer it has reached record-low water levels, with entire sections and dozens of tributaries drying up. Water flow on the Yangtze’s main trunk is more than 50% below the average of the last five years. Shipping routes in the middle and lower sections have also closed, the SCMP reported.
Across the affected regions of China authorities are rushing to ensure water and power supply, as the region approaches harvest season for water-intensive crops such as rice and soy. On Sunday, authorities discharged 980m cubic metres of water from reservoirs in an effort to replenish lower levels of the river, state media said.
The drought has affected at least 2.46 million people and 2.2m hectares of agricultural land in Sichuan, Hebei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Chongqing. More than 780,000 people have needed direct government support because of the drought, according to China’s ministry of emergency management. Drinking water has been trucked in to areas where residential supplies have completely dried up. High temperatures in July alone caused direct economic losses of 2.73bn yuan (£340m), affecting 5.5 million people, the emergency ministry said last week.
In the city of Chongqing the water level dropped to reveal previously submerged Buddhist statues thought to be about 600 years old.
Around the world major rivers are drying up as record-breaking heatwaves take a devastating toll, including the Rhine and the Loire in Europe, and the Colorado River in the US.
Bernice Lee, chair of the advisory board at the Chatham House sustainability accelerator in London, said societies including China have remained “unprepared and underprepared” for high-impact, low-probability events like extreme droughts and heatwave.
“Looking to the future, as the frequency of extreme weather events looks set to grow, the future could be even more bleak.”
Dr Faith Chan, the head of the school of geographical sciences at the University of Nottingham in Ningbo, said China was committed to climate change adaptions and preparing for climactic extremes.
“But it is very difficult to say what is the long-term effect on the economy by the extreme weather. For the short term, electricity use is heavily consumed and stressed,” Chan said.
Chinese authorities have repeatedly attributed the drought and heatwave to the climate crisis. Chen Lijuan, the chief forecaster of the country’s national climate centre, last week described the combined heatwave and drought as a “pressure cooker”.
“We have to face the fact that similar heatwaves will occur frequently in the future … it will become a new normal,” Chen said.
However, the immediate impact on electricity supplies has put pressure on Beijing’s climate change commitments. Last week the vice-premier Han Zheng said the government would step up support for coal-fired power production.
Warnings are in place for continued high temperatures and low rain. A red heat warning – the highest level of alert – was issued for the 10th consecutive day on Sunday for large swathes of the country.
Additional reporting by Vincent Ni, Xiaoqian Zhu, and agencies
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A global drought…where do all the water go?
Keep in mind regarding “climate change” that a warmer world would be a wetter world overall. There’s no way around it.
There is actual climate change but it will be temporary. what is not temporary
is population growth with millions more mouths to feed and in places already at breaking points.
Over 3″ of rain here so far today. My zipper peas, although bush variety, grew a foot taller overnight with light rains the past couple of days.
Amazing how seemingly small amounts of rain will fill 55 gallon rain barrels.
Alaska. It’s been raining virtually every day since mid July.
There are too many people in the world.
Do something about it!
I am doing my best but no thanks to you American capitalists.
Too many of the wrong people.
People who are too lazy to work and leeching off the taxpayers, generations of welfare and parents can’t feed their kids (low lifes), yet keep breeding in poverty.
What else do they have to do????? 🙂
No there is too much urban in the world.
Car insurance keeps going up because more cars on roads equals more accidents overall. Lots of couples choose to be child free, I know quite a few past breeding age child free.
Most will regret it in their old age.
Not your decision to make!!!!!!
Was there not record flooding in those areas last year?
Two years in a row if memory serves me right… There was even serious concerns over the Three Gorges dam integrity.
This ‘article’ is just more fear porn to keep people on edge, keep pumping ‘climate change’ propaganda which justifies the need to lock and limit people in what they do. Everything is connected to ‘climate change’, the energizer bunny of all things existentially threating the planet. When in reality its the politicals and ‘elites’ that ARE the overwhelming threats to the planet…
Brian- There are those who believe that the Chinese are being used to see how much mental torture they can stand before they lose it. With the extreme lockdowns , no food, floods, banks keeping their money , job loss due to closures and now extreme heat and drought with water and power shortages, they are close to cracking.
I think they are somewhere around 65 days of soaring temperature and no rain. Some parts of China are enduring 50 degree Celsius (124 degrees Fahrenheit) daily . Guessing whatever methods work best to make the Chinese want to give up on life will be used against the rest of us. Most people don’t believe the criminal cartel and the military have the ability to use weather as a weapon but believe me they do.
Oh, and they make the poor bastards stand in the 124 degree heat in long lines to get PCR tests daily to boot.
I don’t think the chinese are being ‘used’ in this manner, perhaps manipulated some but not used. The communists there, like all communists, have zero regard for human life, you are property of the state, the elites, and they can use or dispose of this property as they see fit.
There are about five different factions, or families, but two main factions at war with each other in china, for control. Its a transnational criminal organization no different from the cartels, govt, eu, etc etc…
Right now the only thing keeping the ‘people’ in check, in china, is the police. The police are bigger than the military, and operated much like the stassi and made easier with the even more oppressive google/microcrap developed surveillance and social credit system employed there, and now being fully imported to here.
imo… they are about as evil all on their own, as they can get.
Brian- I get most of my information/news outside of the US, that is the opinion of many. The WEF works equally as well with the commie Chinese as the Bolshie EU and America. This is a war against the entire population of this planet. We are as owned as the Chinese IMO, the difference is we are heavily armed. Imagine a billion and a half screaming Chinese with the fire power and ammo on the level of America. Whoa………
Thats why they have been completely disarmed… because they WILL use those arms against their govt… unlike western countries that have the arms, but won’t use them.
During the flooding the biggest targets were police. People attacking them for their firearms, mostly handguns but a few armories were looted as well when flood waters broke them open.
The chinese are in as much or more debt than western nations, everything is teetering on a knife edge, globally. Its all coming down… everything.
I am in complete agreement with you that the elites are the biggest threat to the planet in every way possible. They mean to be the threat, they want it all for themselves. They have no use for the proles going forward, this will not stop until they manage to kill off most of us. That means us too.
Have you by any chance seen a movie called “Humanity Bureau”? I watched that the other day and it jives with future projections. If you are not somewhat wealthy and contributing to their bottom line, you are marked for demolition. They want their Utopian dream of eradicating poverty worldwide , even if they have to kill almost everyone to do it.
Haven’t seen the movie but have read a few reports quoting people referencing this agenda.
Bottom line is this is completely driven demonically. Lucifer hates mankind and his goal is to destroy it in every fashion and facet he can, trying to destroy God and His creations.
Let the wind blow…
I call it Halloweener’s at work daily!!!!!
On average, they’re doing fine.
And it all flowed into the seas, because we do not spend any money on water infrastructure, because that would cut into the profits of the Military Industrial Complex which must make trillions while the country goes to hell.
There has always been flooding on Planet Earth!!!!
HAARP….and others.
Help an ignorant man out.
If the loss of fresh water levels we are currently seeing everywhere around the world, all at the same time are linked to climate change, why aren’t sea levels dropping? All rivers run to the sea, and if all of those rivers are drying up then their contribution to sea levels must alter accordingly.
Something is happening, what it is ain’t exactly clear.
Cycles… dry periods, wet periods that fluctuate regionally.
My uncle who farmed Saskatchewan talked about 25 yr cycles of wet/dry periods. Gotta keep the fear porn machine fed so you hear of the dry rivers and not flooding ones unless it plays into the narrative.
Flood here…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094721000931
Doughts now affecting china where flooding was occurring before. be very afraid…
Luckily for the WEF et al, the floods of which Brian speaks wrecked the crops and now the drought has wrecked the crops in China. Ahhh…no soup for you, or anything else.
Starvation is nothing new for the those people. Maybe they should spend more on stockpiling food and less on iPhones and baubles.
farmer,
quit asking unnecessary questions & farm harder–
“they” say sea levels are rising & that’s good enough 4 me & it should be 4 you also–
and you, and you, and you especially–
Oh it is clear alright. The infrastructure is not keeping up with the population. The money that should be being spent on a national water grid and new reservoirs is being spent on illegal wars and supporting illegal aliens. Not to mention the few trillion here and there being stolen by the politicians and bureaucrats who are in charge of government contracts.
Like the hoover dam.
The rivers above AND below dam are still normal, kayak and white water raft ready.
But dam at lowest levels?
Seems they diverting water………
all these new normals…
i don’t even know what to do with all my old normals. maybe i’ll sell them down at the dry market (formerly the wet market).
Water shortages on a planet that is roughly 70% covered in water,hmmmmmmm……..
Thats only a rumor… nobody has ever seen the entire planet, so we’re told…
It’s falling off the edges….
Nearly 8 billion people and the pace keeps going.. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjy9Ouhrdv5AhUkGDQIHX7sAC4QFnoECDAQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldometers.info%2Fworld-population%2F&usg=AOvVaw3YMVazKAtMa5WBnfBu2yOi
Gee, do you think it is possible we have begun to reach the limits to what this planet can reasonably support? Nah just keep reproducing like there is no tomorrow….. and you may be right.
I just went to that Worldometers link. Wasn’t looking for anything in particular. But noticed that there were 2 billion people worldwide in 1930 and there are almost 9 billion today. They also break down various religions. So if a certain religious group has 13,850,000 people today how many would they have had in 1930? A rough calculation comes out to less than 3 million. Hmmmm.
231 Jordan 10,203,134 1 % 101,440 115 88,780 10,220 2.7723 24 91.5 % 0.1 %
232 Portugal 10,196,709 -0.29 % -29,478 111 91,590 -6,000 1.288 46 66.5 % 0.1 %
233 Azerbaijan 10,139,177 0.91 % 91,459 123 82,658 1,200 2.0835 32 56.2 % 0.1 %
234 Sweden 10,099,265 0.63 % 62,886 25 410,340 40,000 1.85 41 88.2 % 0.1 %
235 India 0 -100 % -1,366,417,754 0 2,973,190 -532,687 2.2402 28 N.A. 0 %
Showing 231 to 235 of 235 entri
It looks like India has 0 people now. They lost all 1,366,417,754 of em
There were 9.7 million Jews in Europe and the Soviet Union before WWII, genius.
This is the result of weather modification weapons. And they are spraying poison on top. No wonder they need our land.
Who forecast and then executed a 7 year drought/famine in Egypt and told Joseph about it in a dream? What or who was behind the torrential rains of last year so bad that China’s Three Geoges Dam cracked and almost failed? Who/what is behind the heatwave & drought this year in China that rivers are drying up and hydro plants are shutting down? Heaven forbid that the Chinese or American Godless rulers would ever suspect that any cause other than “global warming/manmade climate change” could be causing these aberrations in weather. Jah foretold what was coming to Joseph in a dream and then executed the event. The world has now thrown Jah and His Son under the bus and He is exacting His revenge. Even most so-called Christians who embrace the feel-good prophesies of the hundreds of modern day prophets who tell them there is a human solution to a spiritual crisis display their ignorance of what is soon coming our way.
No sun, no wind , and no rain equals no green energy. Think about that and it is indeed happening at the moment!!!!!!!