Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Numerous Chinese cities burned in the blistering heat as heatwaves melted building roofs, buckled roadway...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Numerous Chinese cities burned in the blistering heat as heatwaves melted building roofs, buckled roadways, and forced residents to seek relief in subterranean raid shelters.
As of 11 a.m. (0300 GMT) Tuesday, 68 cities, including Shanghai and neighbouring Nanjing, had issued red alerts, the most severe of a three-tiered heatwave warning system. Red alerts indicate that the following 24 hours will see temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Shanghai, which is currently dealing with intermittent COVID-19 outbreaks, advised its 25 million inhabitants to get ready for this week's scorching weather. Shanghai has only experienced 15 days with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius since records began being kept in 1873.
One COVID tester was seen embracing a one-meter-tall slab of ice near the road in a widely circulated social media photo. Eight tonnes of ice had to be consumed daily by the personnel of a sizable Shanghai wildlife park just to keep the animals cold.
As her five-year-old kid played at a water fountain, Shanghai resident Zhu Daren declared, "This year, the heat has arrived a little early than before."
"Despite the fact that it is only July, I believe that the warm weather has peaked. Basically, you need to switch on the air conditioning when you return home and wear sunscreen outside."
A TRIPLE FURNACE
This year's summer in China is one of contrasts, with heatwaves and torrential downpours both wreaking devastation on the landscape. Mid-July, generally the warmest and wettest time of the year, has been advised by authorities to be on the lookout for potential weather disasters due to climate change.
According to official media, a stretch of a road in a town in southern Jiangxi province arched up at least 15 centimetres as a result of the heat.
Nanjing, one of China's three "furnaces" famed for their sweltering summers, has opened up its underground air-raid shelters to inhabitants starting Sunday, with its war-time bunkers equipped with WiFi, literature, water dispensers and even microwave ovens. On Tuesday, the city issued a red warning.
The roof of one of Chongqing's museums physically melted, with the tiles of a typical Chinese roof cracking as the heat dissolved the underlying tar. Chongqing was the second "furnace." On Monday, the city issued a red warning.
To keep its roads cool, Chongqing has also used sanitation trucks that spray water.
The centre city of Wuhan, the third furnace, is expected to experience extreme heat, humidity, and UV radiation this week.
