China’s manufacturing hub raises highest flood alert, threatening more supply chain woes

China’s manufacturing hub of Guangdong raised its flood warning to the highest level due to the worst rains in decades, spurring more evacuations and threatening further supply chain disruptions in an economy reeling from lockdowns related to Covid-19.

Guangdong province raised its flood control emergency response to the highest level late on Tuesday (June 21), ordering areas at risk to take necessary steps to promptly halt schools, businesses, and traffic to minimize the impact of the torrential downpours and ensure the safety of lives and property, according to a notice from the local emergency management department.

Shaoguan, a major industrial production centre in the north of Guangdong that borders Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, told most companies to halt output and suspended public transport after a “severe flood disaster” in the past few days.

Average precipitation in the city exceeded previous records, according to the local government.

China Railway Guangzhou Group halted train services for lines passing through Shaoguan. Multiple districts in the adjacent Qingyuan city suspended classes on Wednesday as the rains pushed up water levels in reservoirs to dangerous levels.

Guangdong, along with the southern provinces of Fujian and Guangxi, has been hit by record rains over the past month, forcing millions of people to evacuate from low-lying areas in the Pearl River basin.

From May 1 through June 15, the average precipitation in the three areas reached 621mm, the highest in six decades.

On Wednesday, China’s National Meteorological Centre renewed a blue alert for rainstorms in various parts of the country.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow, and blue.

From 2pm Wednesday to 2am Thursday, heavy downpours are expected to lash parts of Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Sichuan, Chongqing, and Yunnan. Some areas may experience up to 150mm of rainfall.

Some of these regions are also likely to encounter over 60mm of hourly precipitation, accompanied by thunderstorms and gales.

The meteorological centre has advised local governments to make appropriate preparations and check the drainage systems in cities, farmland, and fishponds.

Schools and kindergartens have been asked to take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of children, while drivers have been alerted to watch out for flooding and traffic jams.

Floods are not uncommon during the summer, especially in low-lying areas, but they are set to become more extreme and frequent as the planet warms.

Analysts have warned that the extreme weather, including floods in southern provinces and droughts in the north, will affect production of grain, vegetables and pigs and push up domestic inflation, according to local media.

Frequent heavy storms will continue in southern provinces over the next 10 days, flooding some farmland and hurting rice, corn and vegetables crops, China’s National Meteorological Centre warned earlier on Monday. High humidity is also conducive for pest outbreaks.

So far, the worse flooding has been contained to the northern part of Guangdong, minimizing the potential impact on some of the biggest manufacturing companies in the province, which hosts the headquarters of companies such as Huawei Technologies and Midea Group.

Any threat to manufacturing, shipping and logistics operations could deal another blow to an economy which has yet to recover from widespread Covid-19 lockdowns in major cities.

China’s economy is now estimated to expand just 4.3 percent this year, well below the government’s target of around 5.5 percent.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES