On Wednesday, a farmer clears the corpses of chickens that died of the heat in Qitang town, Bishan district, Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality. The farm has lost up to 50 chickens every day in August amid the country’s worst heatwave since 1961. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

Chickens lie under a drinking device on the farm on Wednesday. Even after installing sprinklers on the fans and additional machines to spray water daily, about 2,000 chickens died from heat on two of her farms this summer, the farm owner told Caixin. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

Crops wither under the heat at a vegetable garden in Qitang. The town is an important fruit and vegetable planting base in Chongqing, known for its cherries and blood oranges. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

A row of corn in a field turns yellow due to drought. As of Tuesday, more than 1.9 million people and over 235,000 hectares of crops in Chongqing are affected by the extreme drought, causing an economic loss of over 2.1 billion yuan ($306 million), city officials said. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

Bitter melons have shriveled due to the lack of water in Chongqing. The average precipitation since July in Chongqing is about 50% less than that in the same period of the year. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

Ground vegetation has become sparse due to severe drought in Qitang town on Thursday. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

Smoke from a wildfire rises behind a citrus tree in Qitang town on Thursday. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

The blackened section of a forest after a wildfire in Chongqing. As of Thursday, 18 wildfires have broken out in the municipality in August, according to China’s state-owned Xinhua News Agency. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

In Chongqing’s Yubei district, parts of the Jialing River’s water bed are exposed on Thursday after its water level drops due to the decrease of upstream water. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin

The grass alongside the Jialing River dries up. Nearly 200 rivers and 90 reservoirs in Chongqing have dried up, according to local authorities. Photo: Ding Gang/Caixin