Heatwaves have caused cutoffs in 66 rivers in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and 25 reservoirs to dry up. Due to the drought, 300,000 people are now in need of everyday help while 269,000 people have difficulty accessing drinking water, officials told a news conference on Chongqing's high temperature and drought relief work in 2022 on Wednesday. 

Since July, Chongqing has calculated more than 33 days with temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius. The average temperature in the municipality has been 30.5 degrees Celsius, 2.6 degrees Celsius higher than in the same period of previous years and tied with 2006 as the highest since 1961. 

Zou Yu, director of the Political Department of Chongqing Emergency Management Bureau, said the city had dispatched 12 working groups to districts and counties to guide and supervise drought relief, emergency water supply and safe production, and taken measures to ensure urban and rural residents' domestic water supply and guarantee water supply facilities' maintenance and emergency repair. 

The municipality organized nearly 900,000 people to find and deliver water. It dispatched a rescue team of 98,000 people and 270,000 rescue equipment and vehicles and allocated 10 million yuan to solve the drinking water shortage in the city.

Weather forecasts show that heatwaves will continue to blaze across Chongqing over the coming week. The highest temperatures in most districts are expected to be between 38 and 42 degrees Celsius, though some regions could reach 43 to 45 degrees Celsius. 

(Cover image via CFP.)

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