Freshwater Lake in China goes dry. Red alert declared.

The central Chinese province of Jiangxi declared a red alert as drought conditions continues to worsen the water levels in  Poyang lake, the country's biggest freshwater lake. The alert was declared by the Jiangxi government as the Water Monitoring Centre stated that Poyang's water levels would fall even further in the coming days. The lake has water level diminished to a record low. It is also a vital flood outlet for China's longest river, Yangtze. Rainfall is still minimal. Reuters reported that, rainfall since July is 60% lower than 2021.

Water levels in the Yangtze have fallen from 19.43 meters to 7.1 meters at a key monitoring spot over the last three months . The drought spell began in June this year.

 

An aerial view showing dead fish littering the shore. Local villager named Ye Fa catches fish in a pool of water left by Poyang Lake outisde Nanchang. (Photo credit: Reuters)

 

The heat wave of 2022 began officially on June 13 and ended on August 30. The wave was driven by an unusually intense and large Western Pacific Subtropical Highweather system stretching over large parts of the continent Asia. The vice director of China's National Meteorological Center, Xiao Chan, had earlier this week stated that the extent, duration, intensity and impact of the heat wave made it the biggest on the population since records began in 1961. 267 weather stations across China reported record temperatures in August.

With temperatures reaching highs of 45 degrees celsuis in parts of the region of Chongqing, The southwest of China was the worst hit in the summer.

The extreme dry conditions in Jiangxi have now stretched to more than 70 days. While rains in much of China(southwest) have brought some relief, many regions in China( central) are still under the impact of drought.. A total of 10 reservoirs in neighbouring Anhui province are unable to discharge water downstream, falling below the "dead pool" level,