China, Yangtze River: More extreme weather

China Daily 8 Jun 11;

The severe floods in some parts of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River that were suffering from the severest drought in more than a hundred years points to the reality that extreme weather conditions are becoming more prevalent.

The total area of arable land affected by the drought in the drought-hit five provinces dropped from 3.79 million to 2.3 million hectares in three days from Monday to Wednesday this week.

Grievances against either the dams in the upper reaches of the Yangtze or the unfairness of the heavens won't help the victims of the drought and deluge. What is urgently needed is the means for people to rebuild their lives.

No less important is whether governments at all levels have given enough thought to preparations against potential disasters that might be brought about by extreme weather conditions.

The water conservancy capacity for small and middle-sized water conservancy projects in Central China's Hubei province has dropped by 40 percent in the past several decades, according to statistics from the province's water control bureau. Their capacity to drain flood-waters and irrigate farmland has shrunk by half and more than half of the facilities in all the province's water pumping stations are badly in need of repair or maintenance. And 40 percent of the arable land can hardly resist any drought or flood.

In an extreme case, an irrigation canal built with an investment of more than 1 million yuan ($154,281) was torn apart by local residents in Xishui county of Hubei simply because it was so badly deigned and constructed that it failed to provide the water rural villagers need.

Hubei province is not prepared for the increasingly frequent natural disasters and clearly the situation is no better in other provinces seriously affected by the drought this year.

The water level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze has frequently fallen to new historical lows in the past decade, reaching a record low this year. Fighting against drought and floods, sometimes both in swift succession, will turn out to be a permanent job in the near future, if it is not at present.

If anything, the need to be prepared and increase vigilance should be the lesson governments at all levels learn from the drought and floods this year.

Investment in water conservancy and irrigation projects will effectively reduce the amount of money local governments will have to pay for disaster relief in the future.

China Daily

Heavy rain forecast for China's drought-hit regions
Reuters 8 Jun 11;

(Reuters) - Heavy rains are forecast for central and southern China over the next 10 days, bringing more relief to some of the drought-hit regions, a government department said.

Citing a weather report by the Central Meteorological Observatory, it added that from June 9 to 12, 20-60 millimetres of rain may fall in the central and lower regions of the Yangtze River basin, with heavy storms predicted around June 14.

The rain may further increase water levels of the Poyang and Dongting Rivers, which run through Hunan, Jiangxi and Guizhou provinces.

This follows downpours over the weekend that alleviated some parched areas.

But the flood and drought management department warned that the drought was far from over, with the water level of the Yangtze River still below normal.

Parts of China along the Yangtze River basin and nearby have endured their worst drought in 50 years or more, with rainfall 40 to 60 percent less than normal over recent months.

The drought has damaged crops and exacerbated a power shortage by cutting power generation from dams, adding a slight bump to near three-year high consumer inflation.

It has affected millions of hectares of farmland, mainly in the five provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze.

Rice acreage in these five provinces accounts for nearly half of China's total rice area, official data show. But early-season rice accounted for only 16 percent of China's total rice output of 196 million tonnes last year.

(Reporting by Carrie Ho; Editing by Ken Wills)