(China Times reported on May 3rd from Taipei, Taiwan)

Drought is plaguing not only the northwest of mainland China, but it has also extended to the southeast where there were once fertile fields with a variety of crops. Since last fall, Guangdong Province has been battered by a serious drought. This has not happened for many years. Shenzhen has been hit the hardest. Their current water supply (from a reservoir) has been cut in half.

According to a report from the Zhongxin Newspaper, Guangdong Province has had only rare rainfalls since last September. Winter drought followed fall drought, and that turned into spring drought. Apart from the precipitation from most hydrographic stations (mapping bodies of water) and hyetographic points (mapping rainfall) in Guangdong province being almost zero, the water level of rivers and creeks is also very low. Some mountain ponds and reservoirs have already dried up. Some individual creeks have also disappeared.

According to the hydrogrphic report, the water level of large rivers like the West River and North River in Guangdong Province is about 10 meters lower than the alarm line.

The drought has adversely affected the people of Shenzhen in their daily lives and the way they work.