China is getting too much rain in the south and not enough rain, plus a heat wave, in the north
China is being buffeted by two extremes of severe weather, with heavy rain and flooding in parts of the south and a heat wave and drought conditions in the north
BEIJING (AP) — China is being buffeted by two weather extremes, with heavy rain and flooding forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in the south and a heat wave prompting fears of a drought for farmers in the north.
At least one person has died in the flooding. The body of a student who fell into a swollen river in the southern city of Guilin was found two days later on Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report. Elsewhere in the Guangxi region, heavy rains flooded homes in some villages.
To the east, landslides and flooding hit parts of Fujian province, and 36,000 people have been moved, according to state media. One landslide trapped a truck in Songxi county, and videos posted online by the Quanzhou government showed vehicles inundated with muddy flood waters in a part of the historic city.
The Chinese government has issued repeated calls to step up disaster prevention and preparedness in anticipation of more severe weather events because of climate change. Violent rain and hailstorms killed seven people in eastern China’s Jiangxi province earlier this year.
