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Worst drought in 65 years strikes South-East China
Beijing, Aug 05: Despite being hit by a typhoon, nearly 1.8 million people in South-Eastern China`s Fujian province are suffering from its worst drought since 1938.
Beijing, Aug 05: Despite being hit by a typhoon, nearly 1.8 million people in South-Eastern China's Fujian province are suffering from its worst drought since 1938.
Typhoon 'Morakot' brought a small 40 to 50 mm
rainfall to Jinjiang city and nearby areas, which helped lower
local high temperatures, but was not enough to ease the
serious drought, the provincial anti-drought and flooding
headquarters said.
Earlier, the Fujian Meteorological Observatory had forecast that central and south-eastern parts of the province could receive about 100 millimetres of rain from the typhoon. A total of 20,01,510 acres of farmland in the province are hit by drought.
Meanwhile, Shanghai, China's commercial capital, can expect some relief from its record summer heatwave in the next two days. The city has experienced 16 extremely hot days with the temperature surpassing 35 celsius, a 60-year record, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, said.
The number of outpatients in Shanghai's major hospitals has risen by a fifth compared with last year, and most suffering from heat stroke. As residents drink more water and stay indoors with their air conditioning running, the consumption of water and electricity is increasing substantially. Shanghai water company engineers point out the downtown area is now using around six million cubic metres of water a day.
Electricity consumption has peaked at 13.44 million KW, one mn KW higher than its designed generating capacity. Hot weather has also forced other east Chinese provincial governments to take all sorts of measures.
Bureau Report
Earlier, the Fujian Meteorological Observatory had forecast that central and south-eastern parts of the province could receive about 100 millimetres of rain from the typhoon. A total of 20,01,510 acres of farmland in the province are hit by drought.
Meanwhile, Shanghai, China's commercial capital, can expect some relief from its record summer heatwave in the next two days. The city has experienced 16 extremely hot days with the temperature surpassing 35 celsius, a 60-year record, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, said.
The number of outpatients in Shanghai's major hospitals has risen by a fifth compared with last year, and most suffering from heat stroke. As residents drink more water and stay indoors with their air conditioning running, the consumption of water and electricity is increasing substantially. Shanghai water company engineers point out the downtown area is now using around six million cubic metres of water a day.
Electricity consumption has peaked at 13.44 million KW, one mn KW higher than its designed generating capacity. Hot weather has also forced other east Chinese provincial governments to take all sorts of measures.
Bureau Report