Yangtze shrinks as China’s drought disrupts industry

By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
Associated Press

CHONGQING, China (AP) — Ships are creeping down the middle of the Yangtze after China’s driest summer in six decades left one of the mightiest rivers barely half its normal width. The drought has set off a scramble to contain damage to a weak economy in a politically sensitive year. Factories in Sichuan province and the adjacent metropolis of Chongqing in the southwest were ordered to shut down after reservoirs that supply hydropower fell to half their typical levels and demand for air conditioning surged in scorching temperatures. River ferries in Chongqing that usually are packed with sightseers were empty and tied to piers beside mudflats that stretched down to the depleted river’s edge.