Soaring temperatures and the worst drought in more than 50 years have strained power grids in southwestern China and caused blackouts in at least one city in the east of the country.

The director of a climate-change research centre in Beijing says the global greenhouse effect is the chief reason for droughts, especially in upper latitude regions of the northern hemisphere such as hard-hit Chongqing and Sichuan.

Beset by months of typhoons, flooding and droughts, China is facing its worst series of natural disasters in six years, leaving 2,006 people dead and causing 160 billion yuan (US$20 billion) in economic losses, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

At least 18 million people have been affected by China’s worst drought in 50 years, Xinhua says. Worst hit is the southwestern region of Chongqing, where it has not rained for more than 70 days and two-thirds of the rivers have dried up.

Power output from the Manwan and Dachaoshan dams in Yunnan province is down to half the normal level as the Lancang River basin suffers its worst drought in 50 years.

The state-owned Thai utility is to set up a new unit soon, EGAT International Ltd., which will undertake construction of the Hutgyi dam on the Salween River in Burma along with the state-owned Chinese firm Sinohydro.

A large complex containing miniature replicas of Three Gorges area landscapes, which cost about US$5 million to create, has been closed down due to dwindling interest. Tourists, it turns out, prefer the real thing.

The drought has been so severe that the government is helping 100,000 farmers move to the far-western region of Xinjiang to pick cotton after their own fields withered.

The government is paying close attention to growing pollution levels upstream of the Three Gorges dam and in Yangtze tributaries, but current controls are not sufficient to stop pollution from flowing into the river, a senior official says.

inspectors have approved the quality of a reef-explosion operation that has been part of efforts to raise the water level of the Three Gorges reservoir to 156 metres above sea level.

Authorities have vehemently denied that continuous drought and shortage of drinking water in southwest China are somehow related to the completion this year of the Three Gorges dam.

Hordes of rats and mice are moving into new towns and villages built for people displaced by the Three Gorges dam, raising fears of disease epidemics in the resettlement zones.

Construction work on the Xiangjiaba hydropower project, which will be China’s third-largest dam, will begin by the end of this year, the Three Gorges Project Corp. has announced.

The Three Gorges reservoir is ready to store water to the 156-metre mark, Xinhua reports. The raising of the reservoir is expected to occur this month.