Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 25 2022

AsiaElec CLIMATE CHANGE AsiaElec

China faces floods as impact

of climate change is felt

CHINA PARTS of China are seeing their worst flooding almost 3mn homes were destroyed, mostly
in decades as 500,000 homes are damaged, roads along the Yangtze, China’s mightiest river.
collapse and some houses are swept away. The government has invested heavily in flood
Major flooding has forced the evacuation of control and hydroelectric projects such as the
tens of thousands of people in southern China, massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze.
with more rain expected, the Associate Press The flooding comes alongside record tem-
reported. peratures across the world this year, from Asia
Guangdong Province suspended school to the US to Europe to Iran, as climate change
classes, office work and public transport amid alters weather patterns, threatening crops and
rising waters and the threat of landslides. In people’s homes as well as economic dislocation.
the neighbouring province of Jiangxi, almost The heavy rainfall has collapsed roads in
500,000 people have seen damage to their some parts of cities and swept away houses, cars
homes and their lives uprooted. and crops, and more rain is forecasted for com-
Roughly the same number have been affected ing days.
in Guangdong, largely in the cities of Shaoguan, People clear a flooded street caused by heavy
Heyuan and Meizhou. rains in Rongan in China’s southern Guangxi
China regularly experiences flooding during region
the summer months, most frequently in central Chinese authorities on 19 June issued the
and southern areas that tend to receive the most year’s first red alert, the most severe warning,
rainfall. for possible mountain torrents. In Zhejiang
This year’s flooding is the worst in decades in province a little farther north, rescue crews in
some areas and comes on top of strict coronavi- inflatable boats brought out residents trapped
rus (COVID-19) regulations that have strangled in their homes in inundated villages.
travel, employment and ordinary life in much of Globally, more intense tropical storms are on
the country. the rise as a result of climate change, leading to
China’s worst floods in recent years were in increased flooding that threatens lives, crops
1998, when more than 2,000 people died and and groundwater.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 22•June•2022