China Prepares For Summer Floods as 71 Rivers Rise Beyond Warning Levels

On Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported China is getting ready for a heavy flood season with 71 rivers already going beyond warning levels, as meteorological authorities gave a warning that global warming is stoking up more extreme weather.

Water Level at Yangtze River

In some parts of central and southern China rain in recent weeks has hit record highs even though total precipitation is around 10% lower this year in comparison to that of last year, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

Over the next week, water levels on the Yangtze and its headwaters were expected to increase further, the ministry said, and it gave a warning of major floods all around the country from June to August. Some monitoring stations are delivering alerts, with the Wuhan city section of the Yangtze River in central China over two metres higher than the usual at this time of the year due to heavy rain upstream.

Since 1961, last summer was the period rainfall got to its second highest level, prompting flood alerts on main rivers and lakes and taking water levels at the giant Three Gorges Dam nearer to their maximum.Throughout last year, nationwide precipitation levels remained at almost 700 millimetres, 10.3% higher than normal and up 7.6% from a year earlier, with doubling of rainfall in some region of central and northeast China.

China's Vulnerablity to Extreme Weather

Deputy director of the National Meteorological Centre, Jia Xiaolong, revealed to reporters at the ending of April that China has become increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather due to global warming, including heatwaves and also floods.

On Sunday, a surprising onslaught of freezing rain, hail, and gales claimed the lives of 21 runners in the course of an ultramarathon race in the northwestern province of Gansu, sparking public outrage over the lack of emergency planning. The 62-mile (100-km) race started on Saturday from an attractive area at a bend in the Yellow River well-known for its rock columns and sheer cliffs.

Tornado in Wuhan

The track would take runners through hills and canyons on a dry plateau at an elevation of more than 3,300 feet (1,000 metres). A tornado hit Wuhan this month, and another hit the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, claiming the lives of 12 people and leaving hundreds injured while destroying properties and homes, the official Xinhua news agency revealed on Saturday being the 15th of May.

In Wuhan, Hubei province eight people were reported dead, leaving 280 injured after the tornado that took place on Friday at 8.39 pm ripped through the district of Caidian, the agency said. 27 houses were toppled due to the tornado and 130 more were damaged, together with 8,000 sq m of sheds at building sites and two tower cranes, it added.

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