A thunderstorm killed at least seven people and wounded dozens of others early Monday evening across Shanghai.

The storm also damaged nearly 200 houses and caused a power blackout affecting a large area in the city's northwest.

An advertisement supervisor who was working near an exhibition platform for the Shanghai International Race Festival 2004 died after the 400-square-meter platform in the city's Pudong area collapsed during the thunderstorm.

Two employees from the advertisement company and three construction workers were also injured in the accident at about 7pm last night.

They were sent to the nearby Shanghai East Hospital.

The supervisor was pronounced dead on arrival from suffocation, while the other five injured workers are still hospitalized but out of danger, said Liu Zhongming, director of the East Hospital.

A gantry crane at a construction site on Cao'an Road was blown down by the storm, killing one and injuring two after crashing more than 50 houses.

The storm also killed at least one people and injured more than a dozen others in the Xinjing area of Changning District and Huachao area of Minhang District. More than 130 houses and construction sheds in the two areas were badly damaged by the storm.

Meanwhile, Qingpu and Putuo districts each reported one death due to the storm.

The heavy, albeit short, thunderstorm also caused some problems for local air traffic.

Take-offs and landings were suspended for 15 minutes at the city's southwestern Hongqiao Airport when the heavy rain poured down.

The showers didn't affect flights at Pudong International Airport.

The city has been suffering from a scorching hot weather that has left Shanghai feeling like a giant steam bath since last Saturday.

The hot weather will stick around until at least Friday, local meteorologists forecast yesterday.

The ongoing heat wave has pushed demand for power to the highest level in the city history as residents crank up their air conditioners in an effort to cool down.

Demand topped 14.28 million kilowatts during the busiest hours yesterday, 670,000 kw more than the biggest demand last year when power shortages caused blackouts and forced many companies to reschedule production away from peak hours, according to Shanghai Electric Power Co.

So far there have been no major problems reported with the city's power grid and no rationing of power use has been enforced. But power authorities are concerned that a prolonged heat wave could create big problems.

Local power plants were running at peak capacity Monday and additional power was bought from other provinces.

The hot weather prompted another 3,000 enterprises to give their employees extra holidays, about a week in general, starting this week to reduce the demand for power. About 1,200 enterprises have already shifted production to night hours to avoid peak load times during the day.

Another 300 enterprises could be forced to stop production if the power grid is overloaded.

Some construction sites for projects considered non-essential have been ordered to shut down as of Monday.

Most of the city's entertainment venues were reporting good business despite new regulations enacted by Shanghai Power Company, which ordered such places not to use air conditioners before 4pm on days temperatures top 35 degrees to save power.

At a Cashbox karaoke bar near Fuxing Park, no air conditioners were running at 3:30 pm and the hall's main lights were switched off.

"We've turned off all the air conditioners as an active response to the government's call," said one waiter in the bar.

(Shanghai Daily July 13, 2004)