Plunging water levels of the Yangtze River have revealed a submerged island in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing and a trio of Buddhist statues on it that are believed to be 600 years old, state media Xinhua has reported.
The three statues were found on the highest part of the island reef called Foyeliang, initially identified as built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. One of the statues depicts a monk sitting on a lotus pedestal.
The Yangtze’s water levels have been falling rapidly due to a drought and a heatwave in China’s southwestern region.
Rainfall in the Yangtze basin has been around 45% lower than normal since July, and high temperatures are likely to persist for at least another week, official forecasts said.
As many as 66 rivers across 34 counties in Chongqing have dried up, state broadcaster CCTV said on Friday.
Weeks of baking drought across Europe have also revealed long-submerged treasures.
In Spain, archaeologists have been delighted by the emergence of a prehistoric stone circle dubbed the “Spanish Stonehenge”. Another of Europe’s mighty rivers, the Danube, has fallen to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of more than 20 German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia’s river port town of Prahovo.
China’s national observatory on Sunday continued to issue a red alert for high temperatures, the most severe warning in its four-tier warning system, as sweltering heatwaves still linger in a dozen of provincial-level regions.
It is the 10th consecutive day that the National Meteorological Center has issued a red alert for high temperatures.
During the daytime on Sunday, parts of Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangdong and Guangxi will experience high temperatures of 35 to 39 degrees Celsius, according to the center.
In some areas of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, temperatures may exceed 40 degrees Celsius, said the center.
It advised local authorities to take emergency measures against heatwaves, suspend outdoor work exposed to high temperatures, pay close attention to fire safety and take particular care of vulnerable groups.
The ongoing heatwaves that swept across large parts of China are forecast to wane gradually starting from Aug. 26, according to the China Meteorological Administration. (Reuters/Xinhua)