China warns of ‘multiple natural disasters’ in July

Chinese authorities have warned of extreme
weather and “multiple natural disasters” in the coming month, as heavy rain
damaged infrastructure and forced thousands to be evacuated.

An alert was in place on Tuesday for rain-triggered disasters in large
swathes of central and southwestern China, according to the official Xinhua
news agency.

Meteorological authorities have warned the country will face “multiple
natural disasters in July, including floods, severe convection weather,
typhoons and high temperatures”, the agency said.

And in a sign of the damage caused by the downpours, workers Tuesday
discovered that a closed-off railway bridge on the outskirts of southwestern
metropolis Chongqing had collapsed after it was “damaged by the impact of
mountain torrents”, state broadcaster CCTV said.

More than 400 emergency personnel have been sent to survey the damage and
secure the area, with dozens of trains redirected, according to CCTV, which
did not say if there were any casualties.

In the neighbouring province of Sichuan, authorities Tuesday said more than
460,000 had been affected by the heavy rain this month, Xinhua reported.

About 85,000 people have been evacuated from their homes as a result of the
rain, officials said, with “flash floods in mountainous areas” and “possible
mudslides in some parts” expected this week.

More than 10,000 people have also been evacuated after floods in the central
Henan province damaged more than 2,000 homes, provincial officials said on
Sunday.

And over the weekend, dozens of homes and roads were damaged in Shaanxi
province during “once-in-fifty-years” torrential rains, the Communist Party-
owned Chongqing Daily said Monday.

Chinese media published footage of cars drifting down a flooded road in Hunan
last week, with murky torrents gushing past apartment blocks and shops.

Scientists say rising global temperatures — caused largely by burning fossil
fuels — are aggravating extreme weather worldwide, and many countries in
Asia have experienced deadly heat waves and record temperatures in recent
weeks.

China is the world’s largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that drive
climate change, responsible for roughly a quarter of all current carbon
pollution.

The country has set a target of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and
achieving carbon neutrality 30 years later.

The floods coincided with record heat waves in other parts of China, with the
country’s National Meteorological Center warning residents in the capital
Beijing and a dozen other regions to stay indoors with temperatures over 35
degrees Celsius.

China recorded an average of 4.1 days each month in the first half of this
year in which temperatures exceeded 35 degrees, the highest since national
records began in 1961, according to a National Meteorological Center
statement on Sunday.

In June, Beijing sweltered through a total of 14 days of temperatures
exceeding 35 degrees, matching the record set in July 2000, according to the
state-run Beijing Evening News. (BSS/AFP)