Drought hits hard in Henan; crops hurt

Henan province issued an orange alert for drought on Wednesday, as 72 national meteorological centers in 16 cities recorded severe heat for 10 consecutive days, the Henan Meteorological Center said.

It is estimated that the drought will continue until June 20.

The center advised local governments and authorities to take precautions, such as activating backup water resources, limiting water use for industries that consume large amounts of water and conducting atmospheric seeding operations to generate precipitation artificially.

Yang Yajun, an official with the Henan Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that for the time being, water conservation measures are adequate for agricultural uses, but continued heat might have negative impact on the growth of crops.

In Mengyin county of Shandong province, lack of rainfall has hurt crops, including fruit trees. It is estimated that yields will be reduced by 30 percent compared with last year, Beijing News reported.

Local authorities in the county are taking measures to alleviate the drought and will attempt to make rain artificially when conditions permit.

The meteorological centers in Henan and Hebei provinces renewed their highest red alerts for high temperatures on Wednesday.

During the daytime on Wednesday, temperatures in regions such as Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Xuchang and Luohe in Henan could rise to more than 40 C, forecasters said.

The heat is expected to continue in the northern part of Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Kaifeng during the day on Thursday, with temperatures also rising to more than 40 C.

Temperatures in Hebei's Baoding and Langfang cities, as well as in southern regions, may rise as high as 43 C during the daytime of Wednesday.