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Published: 14:21, August 19, 2022 | Updated: 14:33, August 19, 2022
Yellow alert for drought, as heatwave sweeps China
By Xinhua
Published:14:21, August 19, 2022 Updated:14:33, August 19, 2022 By Xinhua

A villager gets water at a water distribution point in Luoping Village of Wushan County, southwest China's Chongqing, Aug 13, 2022. (ZHU GAOXIANG / XINHUA)

BEIJING – A scorching heatwave is sweeping through vast parts of China, forcing the national observatory to issue a yellow alert for drought.

Since the beginning of July, the south, central and southwest regions of China have experienced droughts as a result of low precipitation and high temperatures, according to the National Meteorological Center.

READ MORE: China goes all out to address drought

The center observed that droughts above moderate level now linger in some areas of Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan and Tibet.

The observatory advised Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan and Tibet to produce artificial rainfall when needed

Dry weather will continue in the aforementioned regions in the following three days, it said.

The observatory advised these regions to keep a close eye on meteorological changes and produce artificial rainfall when necessary. 

It also warned of the risks of wildfires.

China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Water supply replenished

The reservoirs in the upper and middle reaches of Yangtze River will discharge 1.48 billion cubic meters of water into the lower reaches, starting from Tuesday, according to Vice Minister of Water Resources Liu Weiping.

Since August, reservoirs have replenished 5.3 billion cubic meters of water in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, he said on Wednesday.

Water storage in large and medium-sized reservoirs in the Yangtze River basin is generally stable, and reservoir inflow levels are just 10 percent lower than during the same period last year, he said.

ALSO READ: Drought shrinks China's largest freshwater lake by 75%

Since July, most areas of the Yangtze River basin have experienced high temperatures, and there has been 45 percent less rainfall than the average over recent years, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

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