As China’s rainy season starts, National Climate Center forecasts show that flooding in the north and south of the nation could be as bad as last summer when torrential rain killed hundreds. Cities that house millions of people have little time to prepare.
More than 27,000 residents from 22 counties in the southern Guangxi Province were affected by heavy rains last week and more than 2,300 hectares of crops were damaged, causing 104 million yuan (US$15.4 million) of losses.
In Guangdong Province many cities shut down kindergartens and schools due to the downpours.
Floods are a regular occurrence in China during the summer, especially in low-lying areas along the Yangtze River and its tributaries, but the storms have intensified as climate change brings more extreme weather.
Scientists have found evidence that the atmosphere can hold 7 percent more moisture for every 1°C of warming.
The flooding this year is set to be “relatively worse” and “more extreme” compared with the historical average, the National Climate Center said.
Last year, flooding in the central Henan Province killed 398 people.
At least 12 of them were trapped in an underground metro station in Zhengzhou as water gushed into the tunnels.
The tragedy prompted unprecedented attention on Chinese social media, with users complaining about how badly Chinese cities — even the most developed — have been at adapting to a changing climate and greater frequency of extreme weather events.
In Zhengzhou, for example, the meteorological department issued alerts about the floods, but other government departments did not follow through with enough action.
“There will be more extreme weather events and global temperatures will keep rising,” said Cai Wenjia (蔡聞佳), associate professor at Tsinghua University’s Department of Earth System Science.
“The Chinese public and governments at all levels don’t have sufficient understanding or preparation for climate adaptation, and have not paid enough attention to it,” Cai said.
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