Sunday Times 2
China swelters in the worst heatwave in 140 years
Now here’s a novel way of putting scorching temperatures to good use, while having the added benefit of cutting down on spiralling energy bills.
It has been so hot in China that eggs are hatching without incubators, people are grilling shrimp on manhole covers and a highway billboard has mysteriously caught fire by itself.
The heat wave – the worst in at least 140 years in some parts – has left dozens of people dead and pushed thermometers above 40C (104F) in at least 40 cities and counties, mostly in the south and east of the country.
Authorities have declared the heat a ‘level 2′ weather emergency for the first time. The category is usually reserved for typhoons and flooding.
Outside a shopping centre in the financial hub of Shanhai, 17-year-old student Xu Sichen said: ‘It is just hot – like in a food steamer.’
Her friend He Jiali, also 17, complained that her mobile phone had turned into a ‘grenade’.
‘I’m so worried that the phone will explode while I’m using it,’ she said
Extreme heat began hitting Shanghai and several eastern and southern provinces in early July and is expected to grip much of China until mid-August. At least 10 people have died of heat stroke in the city over the past month, including a 64-year-old Taiwanese sailor, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The highest temperature overall was recorded in the eastern city of Fenghua, which recorded its historic high of 42.7C (108.9F) on July 24. On Tuesday, the director of the China Meteorological Administration activated a ‘level 2′ emergency response to the persistent heat wave.
Shell shocked: These newly born chicks hatched from a box of eggs in Zhengzhou, Hunan province. The searing t temperatures have been ripe for incubating eggs, which have grown into fully fledged chicks (AFP)
This level requires around-the-clock staffing, the establishment of an emergency command centre and frequent briefings. In the southern province of Hunan, a housewife grabbed several eggs stored at room temperature only to find half-hatched chicks, state media reported. A joke making the rounds: ‘The only difference between me and barbequed meat is a little bit of cumin.’
Some Chinese in heat-stricken cities have been cooking shrimps, eggs and bacon in skillets placed directly on manhole covers or on pavements that have heated up to 60C (140F).
In the port city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, glass has cracked in the heat, vehicles have self-combusted, and a highway billboard caught fire by itself, sending up black smoke in the air, according to China Central Television.
© Daily Mail, London
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