Why flood and drought linger in China

China's National Meteorological Center on Tuesday renewed a red alert for heavy rainfall, the most severe in the country's weather warning system.

Parts of provincial-level regions including Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangxi will brace for heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms and gales, the center forecast.

This round of heavy rains has lingered for a long time and usually strengthens during the night, leading to severe precipitation in a broad swath of the country, said Chen Tao, the center's chief forecaster.

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River enter their rainy season, featuring several weeks of heavy rainfall, wet days and high temperatures in June and July. It is forecast that the rain will persist in these areas in the next three days.

"The subtropical high pressure is relatively strong this year. It supplies abundant water vapor to the southern parts of China. In addition, cold air from the north continues to move southward and confront warm and humid air currents, thus triggering heavy rainfall and severe convective weather," said Hu Xiao, chief meteorological analyst at Weather China.

The El Nino phenomenon is also one of the important factors affecting global temperatures, and it may exacerbate the country's climate anomalies in the summer.

The Central Meteorological Observatory of China issued the country's first orange alert in 2024 for high temperatures on June 9.

Scorching heat is baking central and northern China, with many national weather stations registering record-breaking daily high temperatures.

From 8 a.m. on June 10 to 6 a.m. on June 11, 27 national meteorological stations in Tianjin Municipality and provinces of Shandong, Hebei and Jiangsu logged daily maximum temperatures breaking historical records for early June.

Extreme high temperatures are not only a threat to human health, but also aggravate drought, cause wildfires and impact agricultural production and urban power systems.

El Nino leads to floods in southern China and droughts in the north. El Nino changes the atmospheric circulation, shifting the monsoon rain belt southward, which results in more precipitation in the south, hence the floods, and less precipitation in the north, which is prone to droughts.

"Generally speaking, extreme weather events occur more frequently in the year after El Nino forms. Compared with 2023, 2024 may be hotter, with more extreme weather events coming," said Zhou Bing, chief expert on climate services at the National Climate Center.

Chinese authorities have allocated 916 million yuan (about $126 million) to flood and drought response work in the country's southern and northern regions, supporting disaster relief efforts, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

The figure includes 499 million yuan to support flood control, relief efforts and safety measures in Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei, and a total of 417 million yuan is being provided to support Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu in their water conservancy and drought relief efforts.

The Ministry of Transport emphasizes information sharing and establishes an interactive mechanism for severe weather warning with other ministries of China. In response to the drought, the ministries have taken a variety of measures to coordinate water resources, ensuring summer planting. The National Cultural Heritage Administration has urged multiple cities and counties to check for immovable cultural relics that may be damaged in the disasters.

China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I being the most urgent response, and a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow, and blue.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: The river bank is overflowed in a wetland park in Wuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, June 18, 2024. /CFP)