Halfway through the peak season, China has already experienced the highest number of floods since records started being kept from 1998. It also recorded the hottest July season since 1961.
In 2024, it has been recorded 25 times till now that the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources have defined as having water levels that prompt an official warning or are measured at a magnitude of once in two to five years.
At a press conference this week, authorities said 3683 river flood warnings and 81 mountain flood disaster warnings had been issued, almost 5000 reservoirs have been put into use diverting 99 billion litres of floodwater to prevent the relocation of more than 6.5 million people.
China has been facing extreme weather conditions this summer including heatwaves, drought, and an early start to monsoons including its annual flood season and the remains of Typhoon Gaemi that brought floods and destruction to the Philippines and Taiwan before reaching China’s east coast.
Dozens of people have died and hundreds of thousands have been forced to evacuate after the floods and landslides across several provinces. Thousands of homes have been ransacked and crops & livestock wiped out.
Typhoon Gaemi had killed 30 people along with 35 others missing.
The National Meteorological Administration said the climate had deviated from the normal this year in China, causing natural disasters. The national rainfall average was 13.3% higher than average with 30 weather stations on high alerts recording highest rainfall. Four major rivers received average rain while the Huaihe river basin and Liaohe river basin received double the average rainfall.
China is the world’s largest producer of carbon emissions, that is the main reason for the climate crisis. For this reason, it has pledged to peak emissions by 2030 and bring it down to net zero by 2060 with a host of renewable energy projects.
According to research, China is building the highest number of solar and wind energy projects in the world as of now.
READ MORE : Dark Tourism and the Kerala Landslide Tragedy
READ MORE : Noah’s Ark: A Space Plan to Save Earth’s Animals
