The person is Michael Le Page.
There is a river in China.
The image is from Zhong Guilin/VCG.
There are widespread impacts on people, industry and farming due to low rain and record-breaking heat in China. Huge areas of crops have been damaged because of the electricity shortages. Supply chains could be disrupted and the global food crisis could be worsened by the situation.
Two months of extreme heat have been experienced by people in China. Many records have been broken due to the temperatures of more than 40C. People can rest in rest areas at subway stations.
The highest temperature ever recorded in China outside the desert-dominated region of Xinjiang was reached in Chongqing on August 18th. The lowest temperature ever recorded in China in August was 34.9C (94.8F) on 20 August. The temperature reached a max of 110.7F.
It is the hottest heat in China since 1961. It is the most severe heatwave that has ever been recorded.
He says, "This combines the most extreme intensity with the most extreme length with an incredibly large area all at the same time." There is no comparison between what is happening in China and what happened in the past.
The rivers in China have fallen to low levels due to the extreme heat and low rain. Water levels in parts of the Yangtze are the lowest they've ever been. Some places have run out of water and had to truck in water. There was a national drought alert in China for the first time in nine years.
Low water levels have caused hydropower generation to fall. Most of the electricity in Sichuan comes from hydropower. Electricity shortages have forced thousands of factories in the province to cease operations. Offices and shopping malls were told to use less power.
47,000 hectares of crops have been lost and another 433,000 hectares have been damaged. The ministry of agriculture wants to increase the amount of rain. It's not clear if cloud seeding makes a difference.
China isn't the only place affected by the dry spell. Europe is having its worst dry spell in hundreds of years. The Horn of Africa and much of the US and Mexico are experiencing a lack of precipitation.
The global food crisis could be worsened by a lower crop yield. Despite the fact that food prices have fallen since March, they are still higher than in the past. China has built up large grain reserves so it can make up for shortfalls.
As the planet continues to warm, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that there will be more frequent and severe droughts.
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