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Half of China Hit by Drought in Worst Heatwave on Record

A tree trunk lies on the dried-up riverbed of the Jialing river, a tributary of the Yangtze, that is approaching record-low water levels in Chongqing, China, August 18, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
A tree trunk lies on the dried-up riverbed of the Jialing river, a tributary of the Yangtze, that is approaching record-low water levels in Chongqing, China, August 18, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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Half of China Hit by Drought in Worst Heatwave on Record

A tree trunk lies on the dried-up riverbed of the Jialing river, a tributary of the Yangtze, that is approaching record-low water levels in Chongqing, China, August 18, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
A tree trunk lies on the dried-up riverbed of the Jialing river, a tributary of the Yangtze, that is approaching record-low water levels in Chongqing, China, August 18, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

A crippling drought exacerbated by a record heat wave has spread out across half of China and reached the normally frigid Tibetan Plateau, according to official data released ahead of more searing temperatures on Thursday.

The world's second-largest economy has been hit by heatwaves, flash floods and droughts -- phenomena that scientists say are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change, AFP said.

Southern China has recorded its longest continuous period of high temperatures since records began more than 60 years ago, the agriculture ministry said this week.

Experts have said the intensity, scope and duration of the heatwave could make it one of the worst recorded in global history.

A chart from the National Climate Centre showed Wednesday that swathes of southern China -- including the Tibetan Plateau -- were experiencing "severe" to "extraordinary" drought conditions.

The worst-affected area -- the Yangtze river basin, stretching from coastal Shanghai to Sichuan province in China's southwest -- is home to over 370 million people and contains several manufacturing hubs including the megacity of Chongqing.

The China Meteorological Administration predicted continued high temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Chongqing and the provinces of Sichuan and Zhejiang Thursday.

But some regions gained relief from the heatwave. Parts of southwestern Sichuan were battered by heavy rains overnight, causing the evacuation of almost 30,000 people, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

And in the southeast, Typhoon Ma-on made landfall in coastal Guangdong province and Hong Kong Thursday morning.

"High temperatures have basically been alleviated in the regions of south China, Jiangxi and Anhui," the meteorological administration said.

"But high temperatures will continue for the next three days in regions including the Sichuan basin and provinces surrounding Shanghai."

- 'Severe threat' -
China's State Council on Wednesday announced a 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) subsidy to support rice farmers experiencing drought conditions which authorities have warned pose a "severe threat" to this year's autumn harvest.

China produces more than 95 percent of the rice, wheat and maize it consumes, but a reduced harvest could mean increased demand for imports in the world's most populous country -- putting further pressure on global supplies already strained by the conflict in Ukraine.

Wednesday's CCTV evening news broadcast showed trucks supplying villagers who lacked drinking and agricultural water in rural Sichuan and Chongqing, with remote mountain areas particularly hard-hit.

Chongqing and Sichuan have also been battling wildfires since last week, exacerbated by high temperatures and water scarcity.

Temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) have led multiple Chinese provinces to impose industrial power cuts, as cities struggle to cope with a surge in demand for electricity.

Record low water levels on the Yangtze River have also put pressure on the region's hydropower generators.

Recent heat broke records in Sichuan, where one county recorded a temperature of 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) Wednesday.

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Varieties

It's Not Just Fat Bear Week in Alaska. Trail Cameras Are Also Capturing Wolves, Moose

This image made from video provided by Donna Gail Shaw shows a view from a trail camera of a brown bear and a black bear on Aug. 29, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Donna Gail Shaw via AP)
This image made from video provided by Donna Gail Shaw shows a view from a trail camera of a brown bear and a black bear on Aug. 29, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Donna Gail Shaw via AP)
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It's Not Just Fat Bear Week in Alaska. Trail Cameras Are Also Capturing Wolves, Moose

This image made from video provided by Donna Gail Shaw shows a view from a trail camera of a brown bear and a black bear on Aug. 29, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Donna Gail Shaw via AP)
This image made from video provided by Donna Gail Shaw shows a view from a trail camera of a brown bear and a black bear on Aug. 29, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Donna Gail Shaw via AP)

Millions of people worldwide tuned in for a remote Alaska national park’s “Fat Bear Week” celebration this month, as captivating livestream camera footage caught the chubby predators chomping on salmon and fattening up for the winter.
But in the vast state known for its abundant wildlife, the magical and sometimes violent world of wild animals can be found close to home, The Associated Press reported.
Within half a mile of a well-populated neighborhood in Anchorage, the state’s biggest city, several trail cameras regularly capture animals ranging in size from wolverines to moose. And a Facebook group that features the animals caught on webcams has seen its number of followers grow nearly six-fold since September, when it posted footage of a wolf pack taking down a moose yearling.
But it’s not all doom-and-gloom videos on the page, and the actual death of the moose calf was not shown. The group, named Muldoon Area Trail Photos and Videos, also features light-hearted moments such as two brown bear cubs standing on their hind legs and enthusiastically rubbing their backs against either side of a tree to mark it.
Ten cameras capture lynx, wolves, foxes, coyotes, eagles, and black and brown bears — "just whatever is out here,” said Donna Gail Shaw, a co-administrator of the Facebook group.
In addition to the 290,000 or so human residents of Anchorage, nearly 350 black bears, 65 brown bears and 1,600 moose also call it home.
Joe Cantil, a retired tribal health worker, said the idea for the page started when looking down at the vast open lands of Alaska from an airplane on a hunting trip near Fairbanks.
“You’re out in the middle of nowhere, so you see animals acting however they act whenever we’re not around,” he said.
He later met wildlife officials in the Anchorage park conducting an inventory of predators. He saw them set up a trap and three webcams where a moose had been killed.
“When I saw that, I thought, ‘Yeah, I can do that,’” he said.
Cantilset up a low-tech camera, and caught his first animal on it, a wolverine, fueling a passion that led to the creation of the Facebook page in 2017.
Then, while hiking, he met Shaw, a retired science education professor and associate dean of the College of Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Shaw was intrigued by his game cameras and began bugging him to see the footage.
“Well, he finally got tired of me pestering him and one day he said, ‘You know, you can get your own camera,’ and so that started my hobby," said Shaw, a native of Texas.
She started by strapping a single $60 camera to a tree. Now she has nine cameras, seven of which are active in Far North Bicentennial Park, a 4,000-acre (1,619-hectare) park stretching for miles along the front range of the Chugach Mountains on the east side of Anchorage.
Her cameras are set up anywhere between a quarter-mile to a half-mile (402 meters to 804 meters) of the Chugach Foothills neighborhood and she frequently posts to the Facebook group page. Cantil also posts videos from his three cameras.
“I knew there was wildlife out here because I would occasionally run into a moose or a bear on the trail, but I didn’t know how much wildlife was out here until I put the cameras on it,” Shaw said.
She replaces batteries and storage cards about once a week, walking into the woods to do so armed with an air horn to announce her presence, two cans of bear spray and a .44 caliber handgun for protection.
Many of the page’s followers are Anchorage residents looking for information about which animals may currently be roaming around the popular trail system. Other users join to see what the cameras capture, including people from other states who “enjoy looking at the wildlife that we have here,” she said.
Shaw said that every few weeks, her cameras catch a wolf or two — and sometimes even a pack. This year she was surprised when a pack of five wolves came by, walking quietly in a single file.
Last month, while she collected memory cards, she saw moose fur on the ground across the creek from two of her cameras. After she spotted what looked like a roughed-up patch of dirt where a bear might bury its kill, she assumed it was another moose attacked by a black bear, similar to what happened earlier not too far away.
But when she checked the memory card, it instead showed the wolves taking down the moose yearling as the moose’s mother attempted to protect her offspring by trying to kick the wolves away with her long legs.