A Drone and a Crane Save the Day as China Reels From Extreme Weather

China and several other Asia Pacific countries were reeling from monsoonal floods and stultifying temperatures on Wednesday, the latest disruptions in what forecasters say could be a long summer and autumn of extreme weather around the world.

The authorities in China said on Wednesday that 15 people had died and four others were missing as a result of flooding in the sprawling southwestern city of Chongqing, according to the state-run news media.

In another sign of how bad the flooding was in China, news footage showed rescuers in the central province of Henan freeing two people from the roof of a car that had been caught in a rushing river. A fire brigade sent them life jackets with a drone and lifted them to safety with a crane.

More bad weather may be on the way, in China and beyond. The World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday that El Niño, a cyclical climate pattern that warms ocean surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean, had formed for the first time in seven years. The agency said it would likely combine with human-caused warming to fuel more heat…