Beijing: Extensive and severe flooding has hit China’s southwestern provinces of Guizhou and Guangxi, prompting emergency personnel to evacuate hundreds of thousands of residents as multiple rivers burst their banks after days of relentless rainfall.
The mountainous province of Guizhou, situated at the southwestern end of a seasonal rain belt stretching towards Japan, and other parts of Southern China have been battered by heavy rains since last week, as the annual East Asia monsoon intensified, breaking rainfall records in several areas.
In Guizhou, at least two riverside cities, Congjiang and Rongjiang, each with populations exceeding 300,000, today instructed residents in low-lying and riverside areas to flee to higher ground. Images and reports from state media depict dramatic scenes, including submerged neighborhoods, collapsed infrastructure, and rescuers navigating flooded streets with boats. A football field in Rongjiang county was reportedly submerged under three meters of water, and a bridge collapsed in a mountainous area, leading to a harrowing rescue of a truck driver.
Neighboring Guangxi region has also experienced significant flooding, with state media publishing videos of rescuers assisting residents to safety. Overall, more than 80,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Guizhou alone by Tuesday afternoon, according to state news agency Xinhua.
State meteorologists are forecasting more rain over the next few days, warning that provinces, including Guizhou, which have been hit by overlapping storms, should remain especially vigilant. Chinese authorities had previously issued the year’s first red alerts – the most severe warning level – for mountain torrents in six regions, urging local governments to issue timely warnings and conduct evacuations where necessary.
The ongoing extreme weather events in China, which include heatwaves scorching northern regions while rainstorms pummel the south, are increasingly linked by scientists to climate change, making such phenomena more frequent and intense.
