BEIJING - A senior Chinese meteorologist has warned the country may face an "apocalyptic summer" of floods and drought, threatening corn, cotton and rice crops, state media said on Tuesday.
China suffers widespread flooding and drought each year, causing huge loss of life. Earthquakes are common and typhoons roar ashore from the South China Sea in the summer.
And southern Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan provinces are already suffering their worst drought in 50 years, taking a toll on rubber and sugar.
"China may face a grim situation from seasonal floods or drought this year with potential damage worse than that of last year," the China Daily quoted weather forecaster Qin Dahe as saying.
"There will be much fear of a bad harvest this year if more disasters occur in the following months."
China grows most of its grain, mainly corn and rice, from June to August when floods were expected in areas along the middle and low reaches of the Yangtze River.
Parts of north Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang and northeast provinces, which grow mainly corn, soybeans and cotton, were forecast to have 20 percent more rain this year than normal, Xinhua news agency said.
Prolonged drought may scorch the rest of the country, it said, particularly northeastern Sichuan province and western parts of Tibet.
Good weather helped China to reverse a four-year decline of grain production in 2004 with output rising 9 percent to 469.5 million tonnes.
Provinces in central, east, south and southwest China have been hit by rain and thunder storms in recent days. Five people were killed by lightning during the May Day holidays.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
