President Xi Jinping emphasized the increasing difficulty of managing floods in China on Tuesday, calling for united efforts to protect lives and possessions as severe storms ravaged provinces from the interior to the eastern coast.
The annual flood season in southern Chinese provinces is in full force, with approximately a dozen fatalities reported due to floods or rain-triggered mudslides in recent days.
Dire Scenes of Destruction in Guangdong
Social media videos depicted the grim reality in Meizhou, Guangdong province, where low-rise buildings precariously tilted on collapsing ground near overflowing rivers or were partially submerged as floodwaters breached their banks.
State media reported at least five deaths and 13 individuals trapped in Guangdong due to flash floods and mudslides, with over 1,400 houses destroyed and 8,000 hectares of crops damaged.
Xi’s Call for All-Out Rescue Efforts
President Xi urged for comprehensive efforts to combat the southern floods, emphasizing the need to exhaust all possibilities to rescue those missing and trapped.
While deaths during China’s annual summer floods have significantly decreased from the thousands each year in the 1990s due to strengthened flood control measures like dam construction, recent extreme weather events, including record-breaking rainfall, have exposed China’s vulnerability to intense flooding and disasters like sudden mudslides, particularly in mountainous yet populated regions.
Record Rainfall and Devastation in Fujian
Xinhua reported four fatalities in Shanghang, a county in southeastern Fujian province, after rainfall in 15 townships surpassed records over a 24-hour period.
Communication and power infrastructure in the affected areas of Shanghang remain compromised, leaving the region susceptible to further landslides.
In the remote western region of Xinjiang, flash floods engulfed a car on Tuesday, leaving four people missing, according to state media.
Emergency officials in the mountainous area of Changji in Xinjiang’s northwest reported heavy rainfall causing flash floods and mudslides that obstructed roads in one town.
Widespread Flood Warnings and Forecasts
Officials in the southwestern region of Guangxi raised a flood warning advisory on Tuesday, indicating approximately 23,600 people affected across 10 counties.
Flash flood warnings were also issued in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, as per state media. Weather forecasters predict continued heavy rain in Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Anhui, with water levels in numerous rivers exceeding warning levels, as reported by official media.