By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
https://apnews.com/article/china-asia-droughts-agriculture-67a4e9642c2770e45e8a324721a7b518
CHONGQING, China (AP) – River floors partially exposed by drought create a rare sight that becomes an urban beach at dusk to escape the crushing heat. Sun-baked farmland leaves yellowed rice stalks, the famous hot pepper plants are almost fruitless, the reservoirs have become puddles of water and cracked earth.
The landscape of Chongqing, a megacity that also includes surrounding farmland and steep and scenic mountains, has been transformed by an unusually long and intense heatwave and accompanying drought.
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Chinese forecasters are calling it the country’s strongest heatwave since records began in 1961, based on its intensity, geographic area and duration. Now in its third month, it has surpassed the previous record of 61 days set in 2013. Temperatures will top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in towns and villages across southern China. Chongqing in the southwest has been particularly hard hit
In Longquan village in the rolling hills south of Chongqing city, a farmer walks over cracked mud at the bottom of a community reservoir that once held water. The retaining wall of the reservoir leaked a few months ago and only a few meters (yards) wide puddle remains in the heat and drought.
To the north, Li Siming walks through his fields yellowing rice plants in the city of Mu’er while the sound of jets landing at a nearby airport echoes off the hills. Because supplies were limited, municipal water that would normally be used for his rice crops was diverted to orchards instead.
“We pray to God, but God would not rain. We ask the local government, but the government didn’t give us water,” Li said.
He uses expensive tap water to irrigate his fields. He estimates his crop will be 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of rice on 3 hectares (7 acres) of land – less than a third of his usual. Farmers have brought the harvest forward by half a month so that the crop does not dry up, but before the grains are fully developed.
Behind the heat waves in China and Europe this summer is a strong high-pressure ridge over western Russia. The extreme heat is likely linked to human-caused climate change — although scientists have yet to do the calculations and computer simulations to say for sure.
The Jialing River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, has in places shrunk to less than half the width of its channel through the heart of Chongqing. Local residents and visitors walk over boulders on the exposed river bed to pose for selfies and view the remaining water flow. At dusk, a squad of uniformed officers with megaphones ordered the crowd back to the higher ground of an adjacent promenade.
Along the Yangtze River, which also flows through downtown Chongqing, families and children play in the shallow water near the base of an exposed bridge support. Mud streaks along the column more than 8 meters (25 feet) above their heads mark previous river gauges. As night falls, a woman, illuminated by her smartphone, sits on a ledge that would normally be submerged in the middle of the river.
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Associated Press Video Producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this report.