‘Red alert’ in China as drought dries up country’s biggest lake

The central Chinese province of Jiangxi has declared a water supply “red alert” for the first time as a prolonged drought dried up much of the water in the country’s biggest lake.

The provincial government said on Friday that water levels in Poyang Lake, usually a flood outlet for the Yangtze River, had fallen from 19.43 metres to 7.1 metres over the last three months.