China renews orange alert for drought

BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's national observatory on Tuesday renewed an orange alert for drought as scorching heatwaves sweep through vast parts of the country.

Parts of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Tibet have been affected by moderate to severe droughts, according to the National Meteorological Center.

In the next three days, parts of the Yellow River and Huaihe River, Jiangsu, Anhui and Sichuan Basin are expected to witness 10 mm to 25 mm of precipitation, which is beneficial to the alleviation of drought.

However, dry weather will continue in other aforementioned regions over the next three days, the meteorological center said.

The observatory advised these regions to take appropriate measures to ensure the supply of water and produce artificial rainfall when necessary.

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