Society

China braces for more heat

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-28 06:59

BEIJING - Eleven provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, mainly in North China, suffered heat waves on Tuesday, with their highest temperatures above 35 C, challenging local power supplies and medical services.

The National Meteorological Center on Tuesday morning issued blue alert warnings for high temperatures in areas of the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, as well as Gansu province, where the highest temperatures hovered around 40 C on Tuesday.

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Meteorological analysts said on Tuesday that hot weather over the next three days will affect northern parts of China, including Beijing, Tianjin, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, as well as Shanxi and Hebei provinces.

Beijing is currently experiencing its longest hot spell in a decade, which is expected to continue until Friday.

The capital has experienced 10 days with maximum temperatures of around 35 C this month - the most for the month of July in a decade.

"The hot and humid weather will continue until Friday. Rain will cool things down at the weekend," Sun Jisong, chief weather forecaster at the Beijing Meteorological Station, said on Tuesday.

Beijing and Tianjin have recorded record-high power consumption levels because residents are switching on air conditioners to cool down.

Beijing Evening News reported that several major local power stations are operating at full capacity and that water usage hit record highs for power plants and agricultural irrigation.

With the mercury rising, the number of people suffering from heatstroke has also climbed to a new high.

After Beijing officially began its "sauna days" on July 19, residents have increasingly found the heat unbearable and the number of heatstroke victims has risen rapidly.

The 999 emergency rescue center of the Beijing Red Cross Foundation has mobilized workers to participate in frontline rescue activities to help facilities cope with the increasing number of patients.

Tourism in the grasslands of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region has also suffered in the heat.

The grasslands usually offer a respite from the heat to city dwellers, but this month the grasslands have wilted under temperatures as high as 40 C.

Ma Yongsheng, vice-director of the local tourist bureau, said the number of tourists visiting the region's grasslands in July is half the number for the same period last year, with only about 20 million visitors.

He said the decrease in tourism is also partly due to the Shanghai World Expo.

China National Radio has also reported that, due to the continuous heat and drought, large-scale locust swarms are spreading in the central and western parts of Inner Mongolia, seriously affecting local animal breeding.