China hit by major droughts

Dry China/ Photo EPA/QILAI SHEN

China has issued its first drought warning of the year as authorities battle wildfires and mobilize specialist teams to protect crops from high temperatures across the Yangtze River basin.

The country's "yellow alert", two levels below the highest possible, was issued last night after China's regions from Sichuan in the southwest to Shanghai in the Yangtze Delta saw weeks of extreme heat.

In one of the Yangtze's important drainage basins, in China's Jiangxi province, Poyang Lake has shrunk to a quarter of its normal size for this time of year. As many as 66 rivers in 34 counties in the southwestern Chongqing region have dried up, state television reported today.

It also stated that rainfall in Chongqing this year is 60 percent less than the annual average, and the soil in several areas lacks moisture.

In Bebei County, north of the Chongqing metropolitan area, the temperature reached 45 degrees Celsius yesterday, according to the China Meteorological Service.

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