BEIJING AP β More than , people had moved to safer areas by Monday as heavy rains brought flood risks to a region of southwest China that was devastated by a heatwave and drought for most of the summer.
Heavy rain was forecast for parts of Sichuan province and Chongqing city through at least Tuesday. Chongqing, a megacity built in a hilly area and that also oversees the surrounding mountains and countryside, issued a flash flood warning for both days. It recommended strict water conservation and using emergency water sources to supply people and livestock. The Sichuan emergency management administration said Monday that , people have been evacuated. One village under the jurisdiction of Guangyuan city recorded The city was one of two in Sichuan most affected by the drought.
A national level IV emergency response for floods, the lowest in a four-tier system, is in effect in Sichuan, Chongqing and neighboring Gansu and Shaanxi provinces to the north.
The hard, sunbaked soil left by the heatwave increases the risk of natural disasters when it rains, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The shift in the weather brought some relief from the heat, and full power was restored to factories in Sichuan after two weeks of restrictions stemming from reduced hydropower output. The rain should help farmers whose rice, spicy Sichuan peppers and other crops were withering during an extended drought that reduced community reservoirs to mostly cracked earth.
Temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius Fahrenheit in what meteorologists called the strongest heat wave in China since record-keeping began in Household demand for air conditioning declined as temperatures moderated and the rainfall was starting to replenish hydroelectric reservoirs.
