Heavy rain hits Guangdong, triggering emergency response

Torrential rain hit south China's Guangdong Province on Saturday, raising water level of several rivers, stranding people, and disrupting traffic and railway services.   Beijiang River in the Pearl River basin experienced its second flood of the year on Saturday evening due to the heavy rainfall. In response, the Pearl River committee of the Water Resources Ministry has upgraded the emergency response for flood control from level-IV to level-III.   As the heavy rainfall is expected to continue, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters decided to raise the emergency response for flood control and prevention work from level-III to level-II from 18:00 Saturday.

China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I being the most severe response.

The heavy rainfall has also caused reservoir levels to rise. The water flow at Feilaixia hydrological station in Qingyuan City is expected to rise to 17,000 cubic meters per second on Monday, three meters above the alarm level.   In preemptive actions, reservoirs in the province were opened to discharge water, aiming to reduce pressure and mitigate potential flooding.   On Saturday, the sustained heavy rainfall in Qingyuan led to flooding in some low-lying areas, stranding residents in their homes. Some houses were half-submerged by flood waters.   Emergency responders utilized inflatable boats to reach the stranded residents and transfer 20 affected people to safety.   A sudden downpour hit urban areas of Guangzhou, the provincial capital, on Saturday afternoon, causing waterlogging on the streets. The local government has raised its emergency response level for rainstorms to level-II and activated a level-II emergency response for rainstorm and waterlogging prevention.   By night, the rainfall noticeably subsided, and the emergency response has been lifted.   Affected by the heavy rain, some trains on the Beijing-Guangzhou route through Shaoguan City in northern Guangdong were canceled or rerouted, leaving many passengers stranded.   The railway authorities quickly organized shuttle buses to transport affected passengers. A total of 3,478 passengers had been ferried to other railway stations by Saturday noon.

Heavy rain hits Guangdong, triggering emergency response

Customers in Shanghai are flooding back to brick and mortar stores to upgrade their home appliances thanks to advances in energy efficiency and the availability of subsidies offered by local government, home appliance brands and retailers.

A store in Shanghai's downtown Changning District has welcomed an average of 2,800 customers on a daily basis in recent days.

Labels on some home appliances show that customers have access to a 10 percent subsidy as long as the products they buy are energy efficient.

"With this 10-percent subsidy, I decided to make offline purchase at this store. It's cheaper after all," said one customer.

This 10 percent subsidy is offered by the Shanghai government to boost consumption.

Retailers are also offering subsidies, further driving up consumption.

"If a customer is buying a product with grade one energy label, while at the same time has an old machine for replacement, the customer can enjoy a 10 percent subsidy from the government. And our platform and the manufacturer together offer a 10 percent subsidy for trade-in goods. And we are also offering an additional seven to eight percent subsidy for sets, and a five percent subsidy for single items. So the customer can generally get a 35 to 40 percent subsidy," said Yang Xu, procurement and sales manager with a Shanghai branch of China's e-commerce giant JD.com.

Noticeably, people are willing to buy more products, especially more high-end models.

"Things are now cheaper. So I have money left for high-end products. I've spent 20,000 yuan (about 2,764 U.S. dollars) here. In the past, I would not choose a refrigerator of more than 13,000 yuan (about 1796 U.S. dollars). I would only buy one with half its price. And I was not planning to buy a TV. But now, I've decided to buy one," said one customer.

Boosting consumption is just one upside of such trade-in programs. Replacing old machines with more energy efficient models also aligns with the country's carbon reduction goals.

China has pledged to achieve peak carbon emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2060.

Home appliances trade-in programs boost consumption, protect environment