Latest news with #southwestChina
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Heavy rain hits China's flood-stricken Guizhou for second time in a week
SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Heavy rain struck China's southwestern Guizhou province again on Saturday, half-submerging the already flood-stricken riverside city of Rongjiang for a second time this week and prompting the evacuation of residents to higher ground. Located at the confluence of three rivers and home to 300,000 residents, Rongjiang was inundated earlier this week by record downpours that left six dead and forced more than 80,000 people to flee their homes. The amount of rain that fell over 72 hours was double the city's average for June. In response to the new round of flooding, authorities raised the city's flood emergency response level to the highest level on Saturday. The benchmark hydrological station on one of the rivers estimated that the peak water level would hit 253.50 metres (832 ft) at around 5 p.m. (0900 GMT), exceeding the safety threshold by 2 metres, state broadcaster CCTV said. More than 40,000 residents in Rongjiang had been urgently evacuated as of 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Saturday, according to the state broadcaster. Earlier this week, the peak water level reached 256.7 metres, the highest since 1954, the Guizhou provincial government said in a statement to Reuters on Friday, blaming "the extreme climate" for the flooding. The floods in southwest China are set to hit local economies. Rongjiang was removed from the national poverty list in 2020. It then saw an unexpected tourism boom after a local soccer league nicknamed "Village Super League" became a social media sensation, attracting thousands of fans and tourists. On Tuesday, the soccer pitch was up to seven metres under water. China has battled with summer floods for millennia, but some scientists say climate change is resulting in heavier and more frequent rain. Massive flooding could set off unforeseen "black swan" events with dire consequences, such as dam collapses, Chinese officials say. In southern China over the past two days, 13 major rivers in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Hainan were hit by storms and had risen above their warning levels, CCTV reported, citing the Ministry of Water Resources on Saturday.
Reuters
28-06-2025
- Climate
- Reuters
Heavy rain hits China's flood-stricken Guizhou for second time in a week
SHANGHAI, June 28 (Reuters) - Heavy rain struck China's southwestern Guizhou province again on Saturday, half-submerging the already flood-stricken riverside city of Rongjiang for a second time this week and prompting the evacuation of residents to higher ground. Located at the confluence of three rivers and home to 300,000 residents, Rongjiang was inundated earlier this week by record downpours that left six dead and forced more than 80,000 people to flee their homes. The amount of rain that fell over 72 hours was double the city's average for June. In response to the new round of flooding, authorities raised the city's flood emergency response level to the highest level on Saturday. The benchmark hydrological station on one of the rivers estimated that the peak water level would hit 253.50 metres (832 ft) at around 5 p.m. (0900 GMT), exceeding the safety threshold by 2 metres, state broadcaster CCTV said. Earlier this week, the peak water level reached 256.7 metres, the highest since 1954, the Guizhou provincial government said in a statement to Reuters on Friday, blaming "the extreme climate" for the flooding. The floods in southwest China are set to hit local economies. Rongjiang was removed from the national poverty list in 2020. It then saw an unexpected tourism boom after a local soccer league nicknamed "Village Super League" became a social media sensation, attracting thousands of fans and tourists. On Tuesday, the soccer pitch was up to seven metres under water. China has battled with summer floods for millennia, but some scientists say climate change is resulting in heavier and more frequent rain. Massive flooding could set off unforeseen "black swan" events with dire consequences, such as dam collapses, Chinese officials say. In southern China over the past two days, 13 major rivers in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Hainan were hit by storms and had risen above their warning levels, CCTV reported, citing the Ministry of Water Resources on Saturday.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's landmark inland trade hub sees surge in goods transport after truce in tariff war with US
Despite of a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers from the nearest sea port, it is a key logistics and trade hub in southwest China, serving as a critical node in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), connecting domestic and international markets through rail, road, and multi-modal transport. (AP video by Wayne Zhang)
Bloomberg
26-06-2025
- Climate
- Bloomberg
Six Dead in Destructive China Floods as More Heavy Rain Forecast
Flooding in southwest China has led to the deaths of six people, and weather officials warn more heavy rainfall is expected in the coming days. Townships and infrastructure in Rongjiang County, Guizhou province, suffered ' significant damage,' the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday, adding that water in the county seat had receded below warning levels.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Virus Discovery Among Bats in China Fruit Orchards Draw Exposure Concerns
Bats living among the orchards of Yunnan province in southwest China have been found harboring a variety of unknown pathogens in their kidneys, including two that are closely related to the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses. The discovery was made by a team of scientists led by Guopeng Kuang from the Yunnan Institute of Endemic Disease Control and Prevention and Tian Yang from Dali University in China, who used genetic analysis to identify microbes in 142 bats from 10 different species. They found 20 new viruses in total, along with a new bacterium and a new protozoan parasite. The viruses of concern are both henipaviruses, which are known for their long genomes and wide range of hosts. More than half of the new viruses' genes match those of the Nipah and Hendra viruses, which, while highly lethal to humans who are infected, are relatively rare among our species. It's unclear whether these two new henipaviruses have the genetic machinery to cross from bats to other species, but their similarity to known human pathogens means scientists will be keeping a close eye on them. "These viruses are particularly concerning because they were predominantly found in bat kidneys, a site linked to urine production, raising alarm about potential human exposure via contaminated fruits or water (routes implicated in previous outbreaks)," says molecular virologist Vinod Balasubramaniam from Monash University in Malaysia, who was not involved in the study. That the bats were captured in fruit orchards means that if the viruses were capable of jumping between species, humans and domestic animals would make easy targets. Related: But bats are also an important asset to orchards: they can pollinate fruits, fertilize soil, and prey on insects. For instance, 90 percent of bats in China that are insectivorous save the country's apple farmers an estimated US$2 billion in crop losses each year. As University of Sydney veterinarian and wildlife disease ecologist Alison Peel, who was also not involved in the study, points out: "We have other examples of close evolutionary cousins to Hendra and Nipah that appear not to be of any concern for spillover, so there will need to be some more laboratory studies on these new viruses to determine the actual risk." The research is published in PLOS Pathogens. Scientists Revealed How Much Exercise You Need to 'Offset' Sitting All Day Social Media Might Impair Your Recovery From Injury. Here's Why. Cat Parasite Can Seriously Disrupt Brain Function, Study Suggests
