An aerial view shows rescue workers evacuating residents on a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China July 22, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
Deadly floods killed at least a dozen people in Western China this weekend and disrupted power and communications infrastructure as the country continues to get battered by extreme weather this summer.
The flooding occurred even as scorching temperatures have caused heatstroke-related deaths in provinces including Sichuan and Zhejiang. More than 70 weather stations across the country captured record temperatures last week, and factories are increasingly being asked to curtail power consumption during peak hours to make sure enough is available to cool residents.
As much as 11 centimeters (4 inches) of rain fell along the border of Sichuan and Gansu provinces early Saturday, triggering floods and mudslides that killed 12 and left another 12 missing, state-backed Global Times reported. Power and phone lines were disrupted and more than 40,000 people were affected by the flooding, according to the report, which cited China Media Group.
Floods are nothing new in China, where efforts to tame the nation’s mighty rivers date back thousands of years. Still, storms have intensified as global warming brings more extreme weather. Scientists have found evidence that the atmosphere can hold 7% more moisture for every degree Celsius of Earth’s warming.
Amid the searing heat, polyester and textile factories in Zhejiang have had power supplies curtailed at peak times to make sure enough supply was available for cooling needs. The reduction is enough to cut their output by as much as 15%, industry publication Polyolefin People reported. Power curtailments were also reported at a Foxconn facility in Chengdu, according to the publication.
The disruptions have so far been small compared to wide-scale outages that affected most of the country last fall due to a shortage of coal. Nationwide supplies of the fuel are abundant at the moment thanks to a slowdown in demand earlier in the year because of pandemic lockdowns. The current round of curtailments is due to sudden surges of air-conditioner use that push power demand above the maximum generating capacity in local grids.
One weather problem might solve another, with the heavy rain from Sichuan forecast to move east, potentially providing relief from the heat, according to Shanghai Securities News.
