BEIJING (XINHUA, CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - China's national observatory renewed a blue alert for rainstorms on Thursday (July 16), as incessant downpours continued to wreak havoc in vast stretches of the country.
From Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon, heavy rain and rainstorms are expected in parts of Sichuan, Chongqing, Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Yunnan, the National Meteorological Centre said.
It warned that some areas of Chongqing and Hubei will experience up to 180mm of daily rainfall.
Some of the other regions will see up to 60mm of hourly precipitation, accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds, the centre said.
The centre advised local authorities to remain alert for possible flooding, landslides and mudslides, and recommended halting outdoor operations in hazardous areas.
China has a four-tier, colour-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
Since June, continuous downpours have lashed large parts of southern China, and the waters of many rivers in the affected regions have exceeded warning levels.
Due to the disastrous flooding, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters raised the emergency response to Level II on Sunday.
The heavy rains have affected 38.7 million people across the country, with 141 people missing or dead as of Monday, according to the latest national data available from the Ministry of Emergency Management. About 29,000 houses have been damaged.
Floods in the southern provinces are expected to recede, as the rains are forecast to move into north China in the next 30 days, said the China Meteorological Administration.
From June 1 to July 14, the average precipitation in the south reached 344mm, the sixth-highest during the same period since 1961.
Mr Song Lianchun, head of the National Climate Centre, said at a news conference on Wednesday that global warming and a subtropical high are to blame.
He said that global warming leads to frequent occurrences of extreme weather and climate changes. China, which is sensitive to such changes, has seen its number of rainy days increase by 3.9 per cent every decade since 1960.
"Since June, the subtropical high has been stronger than in previous years, a result of an unusually warmer North Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, cold air in the north, which has been relatively frequent, met warm air in the south, resulting in frequent and continuous heavy rainfall," he said.
