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Alice Yan

China will likely face massive spring floods due to the worst El Nino since the 1997/98 weather pattern which wreaked havoc in the Asia-Pacific region, says the state flood control authority.
The extreme flooding China experienced almost 20 years ago started at the country’s longest river – the Yangtze – and two major waterways in the northeast.
Flood could swamp Hong Kong and Macau as Chinese scientists predict Pearl River Delta may rise by over a metre by end of century
The floods, which lasted two months from June 1998, affected 220 million people across 24 provinces. Some 3,004 people died.
The incident was one of the 20th century’s three most severe flooding disasters.
And now China may see it happen again.

Liu Ning – general secretary of the national flood prevention and drought relief commanding centre and also vice-minister of water resources – said it was highly likely the Yangtze would see heavy flooding at its middle section and downstream this year, Xinhua reported on Friday.
Waterfalls in areas along the river were now carrying a higher-than-average volume of water and in many places, the flooding season had begun earlier than previous years, according to the report.
China’s Three Gorges Dam ‘can survive nuclear attack’ says nation’s hydropower expert after academics raise safety concerns
Liu said China would generally face a more severe climate this year because of the El Nino effect that started in September 2015 and was expected to wind down by the end of June.
The El Nino was impacting China in ways highly similar to climate events that caused the 1998 floods, Liu said.
Climate scientists have long noted that strong El Ninos often cause severe flooding in southern China and this one will be no exception. Drought has already struck a swathe of countries in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
El Nino is an abnormal warming of waters in the equatorial Pacific that takes place once every three-four years. While causing drought in Southeast Asia, it can cause floods in South America.
The weather pattern was named after the Christ child because the phenomenon was first noticed by anchovy fishermen from Latin America in the 19th century.
For the latest update on El Nino, click on the fortnightly forecast by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology. 

Rainfall in the Yangtze River is forecast to rise 10 to 50 per cent from previous years in May, while some major branches of the river downstream will likely see 20 to 50 per cent more precipitation.
And from June to August, the entire Yangtze River is expected to see up to 50 per cent more rain, with a 50 to 80 per cent increase at its middle section.
The provinces of the Yangtze river basin account for around 60 per cent of China's rice production and a fifth of its cotton output.
Heavy floods would force the country to import rice, most likely from major Asian exporters Thailand, Vietnam and possibly India.
Floods, rain kill 108 people in China
Heavy rains hit southern provinces including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi and Fujian about a week ago, triggering alerts as water levels in many rivers rose alarmingly.
The national flood prevention authority sent in four emergency task forces to guide flood relief work in the affected provinces.

At the time, the water level in Gan River, a Yangtze tributary in Jiangxi, measured up to 2.52 metres above its safe limit.
A section of the highway in Jiangxi that connects Xiamen in Fujian and Chengdu in Sichuan was shut for more than a day because of mudslides, Jiangxi Daily reported.
At a recent flood-control meeting, Vice-Premier Wang Yang, chief commander of flood control in China, urged local officials to take the necessary precautions to guarantee people’s safety in the face of flooding risks at major rivers and reservoirs.
China's flood death toll continues to rise, including two schoolchildren
Local authorities have been ordered to gear up to deal with potential flooding as soon as possible. They were told to fix infrastructure previously destroyed in similar incidents, replenish materials needed to control floods, and update crisis-management plans.
Meteorological officials should also strengthen their monitoring of the weather and keep a close eye on the development of possible areas of flooding, Wang said.


China’s Yangtze River to face catastrophic spring floods as near record El Nino strikes

People observe water being discharged at the Three Gorges Dam, which spans the Yangtze River, in China’s central Hubei province. The river is expected to experience severe flooding this year. Photo: Xinhua

Water is discharged from the Three Gorges Dam to lower the level in its reservoir in Yichang, Hubei province in this July 20, 2010 file photo. A surge in mega-hydropower projects across the world in the coming decade will only be affected marginally by a decision announced on December 8, 2011, to delay building a large dam across the Mekong, Southeast Asia's longest river. The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower plant at 22.5 gigawatts when it reaches full capacity, is a symbol of China's quest for energy and is also a taste of what is to come. A total of 1.25 million people were displaced over 16 years for the Three Gorges dam, leading to widespread criticism and protests. Many blamed the project for widespread drought earlier this year in downstream areas of the Yangtze River. To match Analysis ENVIRONMENT-DAMS/ REUTERS/Stringer/Files (CHINA - Tags: ENERGY ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS POLITICS) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

A couple row a makeshift boat to go shopping in Wuhan, the capital of China's central Hubei province, Wednesday, July 8, 1998. Millions of people are working to shore up levees along the Yangtze River, where water levels have reached record heights in recent days. International aid has begun to flow in to help the thousands of people affected by flooding in China's central and southern provinces. (AP Photo/Xinhua)

Soldiers stationed in the Hunan and Hubei province carry sandbags to strengthen the banks of the Jingiang River in south China's Hubei provence Sunday, July 26, 1998. Hubei is among the provinces worst hit by flooding that has left a death toll over 1,000. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Gang )

From UK floods to US heat, extreme global weather linked to El Niño and climate change                 

A man drive through the flood-waters on Kirkstall Road in central Leeds on December 27, 2015. Britain's government was holding emergency talks Sunday as flooding in northern England forced hundreds of people to leave their homes, including in the historic tourist destination of York. AFP PHOTO / PAUL ELLIS

(151224) -- NEW YORK, Dec. 24, 2015 (Xinhua) -- Children have fun at Times Square in New York City, the United States, on Dec. 24, 2015. New York City had its warmest Christmas Eve on record when the temperature climbed 72 Fahrenheit degrees (22 Celsius degrees) on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wang Lei)

A driver makes his way through floodwaters in central Leeds in Britain on Sunday. Photo: AFP

‘Hottest on record’: Current El Nino pattern could be more powerful than expected, scientists say

An Indonesian soldier checks on a peat land fire near Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia October 28, 2015. Indonesia's weather agency failed to predict that the effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon this year would be worse than in 1997, a senior minister said on Wednesday, as the government considers declaring a national emergency due to forest fires.REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

A dead Bodó (Liposarcus pardalis), a fish that can remain alive for a couple of days out of water, is seen in front of stranded floating houses on the bed of Negro River, which lives its drought cycle, in the village of Cacau Pirêra, district of Iranduba, 22 km from Manaus on October 21, 2015. According to the Port of Manaus the level of the Negro River, a major tributary of the Amazon River, has dropped 4.6 meters in October. The reduction is a result of low rainfall and intense heat caused by the El Nino phenomenon, according to experts. It is expected that the volume of precipitation gets below normal until the month of December and impact on river levels. The water level is beginning to worry boats owners and residents of flooded areas. AFP PHOTO/Raphael Alves

An area of vegetation can be seen amongst drought effected farmland in South Australia, November 12, 2015. A pioneering Australian scheme to improve the management of water in the world's driest inhabited continent is facing its first real test as an intensifying El Nino threatens crops and builds tensions between farmers and environmentalists. An El Nino, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, is already causing drought and other extreme weather, affecting millions of people across parts of the world, and experts warn that the intensifying weather pattern could emerge as one of the strongest on record. REUTERS/David Gray

Indonesia's weather agency failed to predict that the effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon this year would be worse than in 1997. Photo: Reuters

Chinese dams blamed for exacerbating Southeast Asian drought

Cambodian fishermen anchor their wooden boats on the Mekong River bank near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: AP

In this March 25, 2016 photo, a farmer carries pots loaded with water from a pond for watering her vegetable crops at Chamkar Mean village outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Much of Southeast Asia is suffering its worst drought in 20 or more years. Tens of millions of people in the region are affected by the low level of the Mekong, a rice bowl-sustaining river system that flows into Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

(160322) -- XISHUANGBANNA, March 22, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Goods are transferred from a truck to cargo ships by Guanlei port, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 21,2016. As China's first waterway hub connecting Southeast Asia's Mekong River and China's Lancang River, Guanlei Port handles over 350,000 tons of commodity trade in recent three years, worth of 635 million US dollars, from and to Southeast Asian countries. (Xinhua/Hu Chao) (cxy)

In this March 28, 2016 photo, a Thai worker picks mangoes from the two mango trees with a single shed at abandoned farmland. Chai Nat province, Thailand. Much of Southeast Asia is suffering its worst drought in 20 or more years. Tens of millions of people in the region are affected by the low level of the Mekong, a rice bowl-sustaining river system that flows into Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

In this March 28, 2016 photo, Thai workers repair a dried up irrigation canal at Chai Nat province, Thailand. Much of Southeast Asia is suffering its worst drought in 20 or more years. Tens of millions of people in the region are affected by the low level of the Mekong, a rice bowl-sustaining river system that flows into Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

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Water levels may swell up to 80 per cent and could result in flooding as severe as 1998 disaster when the worst El Nino in history killed thousands and affected 220 million across 24 provinces, says flood control official
