Poyang Lake, known as the kidneys of China due to the role it plays in regulating the flow of the Yangtze river, normally swells in summer due to rain and retreats in winter. Last year, it also unexpectedly shrank due to drought.
Temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius and above continued to menace other parts of China.
Northwestern Xinjiang, where temperatures hit a record high 52.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday, remained blanketed in worse-than-usual heat while in neighbouring Gansu province, some areas suffered intense heat while others warned of floods and landslides.
Officials have warned repeatedly that China is vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to its large population and unevenly distributed water supplies.
In Jiangsu province, a waterfall tumbled into a high-speed railway station in the rain-drenched city of Wuxi, according to social media clips.
As many as 150 cities get waterlogged each summer, despite efforts to improve drainage.
In July 2021, extreme rain in the city of Zhengzhou, in Henan province, killed nearly 400 people, including 14 who drowned in a submerged subway line. More rain had fallen over three days than what the city gets in a year.
Heavy rainfall of up to 130mm is expected in parts of Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin until Saturday morning, the national weather bureau warned.
On Friday morning, part of an ancient city wall in Chongqing in southwestern China collapsed after hourly rainfall of up to 100.3mm over the past day.
Source: CNA
