SHANGHAI - Zhang Lanxiang, a 48-year-old street cleaner who works from 5 am to 1 pm seven days a week in the city's bustling Luwan district, finds the searing sun occasionally makes her feel dizzy.

"This time of day, around noon, is definitely the hardest, with peak traffic on the roads pushing up the temperature," said Zhang, a native of Jiangsu.

"It's really hot and there is no place to hide," she said. "I'm lucky I didn't get sunstroke."

The temperature on Tuesday afternoon was reported to have reached 39.4 C in some areas of Shanghai.

In the prolonged hot weather, the demand on the municipality's power load reached a record high of 25.715 million kilowatts at 1:15 pm on Monday.

The extreme heat has led to power supplies becoming overloaded in some areas of the city, forcing the authorities to put in place emergency measures to ensure supplies for residential use.

Across China, the extreme weather has been responsible for more than 40 deaths from sunstroke in the past two weeks.

The Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Shandong and Shaanxi provinces and Chongqing municipality are hard hit regions, with the highest number of weather-related deaths.

On July 31, the Jinan No 3 People's Hospital, a government hospital in Shandong province, received 40 sunstroke patients, 11 of whom died later despite emergency medical treatment, local media said

The Inner Mongolia Morning Post reported that 200 people were hospitalized with sunstroke in Baotou from July 27-30, with three heat fatalities.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs issued an urgent notice on Sunday, requiring governments to take measures to help the homeless survive in the summer heat, including dispensing sun cream, as well as providing food, beverages and shade from the heat.

The National Metrological Center continued to issue a medium, orange weather alert at 6 pm on Tuesday. Rain is expected in the north over the next few days, while the south will continue to be besieged by extreme heat.

Hottest cities

The central city of Wuhan in Hubei province has been displaced from its position as one of the four hottest cities in China, according to figures complied by CCTV's weather anchorman Song Yingjie.

Song said the city of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, has become the hottest city in China over the past decade, with 375 days hotter than 35 C in the 10-year period.

By Gao Changxin (China Daily)

Editor: Tang Zhi