Nine people were missing in central China amid flooding, scorching temperatures and torrential rains that triggered landslides, authorities said on Sunday.
Post Date – Sunday, July 23 at 10:52am
BeijingNine people are missing as torrential rains triggered landslides amid scorching temperatures and flooding in central China, authorities said on Sunday.
Five people were rescued from the rubble of a road construction site in the central province of Hubei where the accident happened on Saturday. Crews are still digging, hoping to find more survivors.
Severe flooding in northern, central and southeastern China has forced tens of thousands of people into shelters. Seasonal flooding is a regular occurrence in China, but this year’s rise has been accompanied by an unusually prolonged period of high temperatures.
China, which covers more than 9 million square kilometers (4 million square miles), has been hit by simultaneous heatwaves, floods and drought this summer.
Some cities have opened bomb shelters to provide residents with a chance to escape the heat.
Earlier this week, Beijing reported nine consecutive days of temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), which hadn’t been seen since 1961. Authorities have issued health alerts and suspended outdoor work in the capital and elsewhere, although many workers are continuing to deliver packages, lay bricks and transport goods amid fears that the economic recovery is faltering.
So far, two people in Beijing have died from the heat. A tour guide collapsed and died of heatstroke on Sunday while touring the Summer Palace, a vast 18th-century imperial garden, health authorities said.
A woman in Beijing also died of heatstroke last month. Health authorities in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, said Thursday they had recorded deaths from the heat, but did not specify any details.
Some cities in China, such as Chongqing, a southwestern metropolis known for its hot summers, have used air defense tunnels as public cooling centers for years. Shelter shelters are now often equipped with rest areas and provide water, refreshments, heatstroke medication and, in some cases, amenities such as Wi-Fi, televisions and table tennis equipment.
Severe drought in northern China is threatening crops and putting pressure on an overstretched power grid, the weather agency warned on Thursday. Meanwhile, severe flooding in southern China has displaced thousands of people over the past few weeks.
Earth’s average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that has already been rated as the hottest week on record.
