CHINA: Heavy rain floods villages and cities along China's Yangtze River, as scientists create rain in the drought-stricken north

Record ID: 1375209

  • Title: CHINA: Heavy rain floods villages and cities along China's Yangtze River, as scientists create rain in the drought-stricken north
  • Date: 10th May 2006
  • Summary: OLD MAN SITTING BESIDE FIELD/WOMAN WALKING WIDE SHOT OF FIELD CLOSE UP OF CROP
  • Embargoed: 25th May 2006 16:02
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVA9MXMMEUYCKQ8PMR5KW64BHVHT
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Days of torrential rain have flooded villages and cities along the southern reaches of China's Yangtze River, signalling the beginning of the nation's flood season.
    More than 25 cm of rain showered the Huangshan Mountain area in Anhui province on Tuesday (May 9) - the most rainfall in one day the scenic tourist area has experienced in ten years.
    Over 500 people were evacuated from the most severely hit areas.
    In Hunan province, over one million people were affected by flooding. Flood waters and landslides in the central province destroyed 87,500 hectares (338 square miles) of farmland and brought down 3,500 houses, causing direct economic damage of 443 million yuan ($55.30 million) in the last week.
    And floods in some areas in south-western China's Chongqing Municipality were said to be the largest in recent years, surpassing the flood catastrophe of 1998.
    Other provinces which were hit by the rains were Jiangsu, Guangxi and Shaanxi.
    Chinese meteorologists are predicting heavy flooding this year from June to August. The nation's "rain belt" stretches along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
    At the same time, arid northern provinces of China are grappling with the worst drought in decades. In fact, Chinese weather experts used chemicals to create rain on Tuesday (May 9) to help relieve drought and rinse dust from the country's capital, Beijing and neighbouring rural areas.
    Experts from the weather modification office in Hebei province used a small aircraft to spray a catalyst (silver iodide) into the clouds to help induce rainfall. They fly 50 to 60 times a year, mainly in spring or autumn when northern China is usually hit by severe droughts.
    Though unusual in many parts of the world, China has been tinkering with artificial rainmaking for decades, using it frequently in the drought-plagued north.
    Last week, another artificial rainfall was generated to clear Beijing after the city suffered some of the fiercest dust storms this decade.
    Whether cloud-seeding actually works has been the subject of debate in the scientific community. In 2003, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences questioned the science behind it as insufficient and urged more research.
    But Shi Lixin, a senior engineer at the Weather Modification Office in Hebei province, defended the practice.
    "Hebei province started the rain making project in 1990, and we have been doing it for 17 years to now. According to our analysis data of the hydrophysical situation and rainfall every year, it works pretty well," he said.
    Farmers in a nearby village are calling for more drought relief measures, complaining that prolonged droughts affect their crops and harvest every year.
    "The rain making is far from enough. We cannot even feel it. The drought is here every year and it never rains in spring. The drought has been worse this year", Cui Suxia, a farmer, said.
    China is hit by droughts, floods, typhoons and blizzards each year. The death toll from natural disasters in 2005 was almost 2,500, according to government statistics.
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