Severe drought hits parts of China by Nina Ridge
Low rainfall and higher than average temperatures has led to a severe spring drought across many Chinese provinces, leaving 4.8 million people without water. Eleven million hectares of crops have been damaged by drought in Gansu, Hebei and numerous other north-eastern provinces.
The hardest hit region has been the Henan province, only receiving 30% of the expected rainfall since March. In the other drought affected regions more than 200 reservoirs have dried up, with three quarters of the reservoirs in the northern Ningxia Hui region now bone dry.
Chinese Meteorologist Ye Dianxiu said that the “little rainfall and higher than normal temperatures are the main cause of the drought that began at the end of last month.” The first two weeks of May saw the average rainfall in Hebei, northern China only reach 8mm, about half of the average rainfall.
With no significant rainfall being forecast for the next ten days, and temperatures set to remain 5C above the average, the drought looks set to intensify.
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