At least four people have died and tens of thousands have been evacuated as China braces for deadly ‘once-in-a-century’ floods.
Severe storms have battered southern China since Thursday, state media said on Monday, with 11 people missing during the heavy downpours.
Heavy rain has fallen in the vast southern province of Guangdong in recent days, swelling rivers by up to seven meters and raising fears of severe flooding that local media said could be the kind you’d just expect. once in a century’.
“Three deaths have been reported in Zhaoqing city, while the remaining one is a rescuer in Shaoguan city,” state news agency Xinhua reported, citing local authorities.
Ten others remain missing as search and rescue efforts continue in the area, Xinhua added.
Guangdong Province, China, has been ravaged by heavy rains that have caused devastating and deadly flooding
A vehicle was seen being swept away in thick, muddy floodwaters as helpless onlookers watched in horror
The rivers have swollen up to seven meters, flooding houses, shops and grasslands
More than 110,000 people have been relocated to Guangdong as rain has destroyed homes
At least four people have died, 11 are still missing and tens of thousands have been evacuated from their homes due to the severe weather
China is no stranger to extreme weather, but in recent years the country has been hit by severe floods, severe droughts and record heat.
Across the province, 36 houses collapsed while 48 were severely damaged, resulting in a direct economic loss of nearly 140.6 million yuan, Xinhua reported.
According to the news site, more than 110,000 people have been relocated in Guangdong.
Of those, more than 45,000 people were evacuated from the northern city of Qingyuan, which lies on the banks of the Bei River, a tributary in the wider Pearl River Delta, state media reported on Sunday.
Authorities said the river was expected to reach levels not seen in 50 years.
Terrifying images shared on state media and online show large swathes of land submerged in murky waters as rescuers carry people on lifeboats in waist-deep floodwaters.
Other images show muddy water flooding Guangdong’s shops, homes and farmlands, while bird’s-eye views of the province show a concrete jungle drowning in floodwaters.
On Monday, authorities rushed to rescue villagers trapped in landslides and evacuate trapped residents. They sent helicopters and carried the elderly on their backs through the deluge from their homes.
According to state news agency Xinhua, 36 houses collapsed across the province, while 48 were seriously damaged
Residents were seen lugging suitcases and carrying children from small rubber boats as they tried to find safety from the deep water
A bird’s eye view of part of the province shows grasslands submerged in brown water
Residents were seen climbing out of rubber boats carrying suitcases and children as they made a desperate bid to reach safety as the freak weather unleashed hell on the province.
In another view of the aftermath, a vehicle was crushed by a fallen tree as the devastation unfolded across the province.
Footage captured on Saturday showed a bridge crumbling and collapsing into a river as punishing winds swept through the area.
A number of major rivers have burst their banks and authorities say they are now closely monitoring ‘dangerously high’ water levels.
Across the province, about 1.16 million homes lost power this weekend, but electricity had been restored to 80 percent by Sunday.
Flights have been canceled and delayed at Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport due to persistent rain, while schools in at least three cities have been forced to close.
Heavy rain is expected to continue throughout Monday, with meteorological authorities predicting “thunderstorms and strong winds in the coastal waters of Guangdong” – a stretch of sea bordering major cities such as Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Authorities warned that the level of a river in northern Guangdong could reach a “once-in-100-years” peak on Monday morning, although this had not happened by midday.
Neighboring provinces, including parts of Fujian, Guizhou and Guangxi, will also be hit by “heavy rainfall in the short term,” the National Meteorological Center said.
Rescue workers evacuate villagers stranded by floods by rubber boat after heavy rain, April 21, 2024.
Aerial view of rescuers evacuating trapped villagers after torrential rain on April 21, 2024. Torrential rain has reportedly been falling since Thursday
Resident Huang Jingrong cleans up his car with a boat strapped to the back after the disastrous weather
A vehicle damaged by fallen tree trunks is seen in the aftermath of heavy storms in Qingyuan city in South China’s Guangdong province Monday, April 22, 2024
“The main impact period of strong convection is expected to last from day to night,” it added.
Authorities issued a yellow warning for rainstorms on Monday – the second lowest in the four-tiered system – with high rainfall levels expected to continue in many parts of the country.
Guangdong Province is the densely populated manufacturing center of China, home to approximately 127 million people.
The province, once called the “factory floor of the world”, is prone to summer floods, but Guangdong has been battered by unusually heavy rains since Thursday.
The heavy rain showers have arrived worryingly much earlier than the flood season, which usually falls in May and June.
“My rice fields are completely flooded, my fields have disappeared,” Huang Jingrong, 61, told Reuters.
Huang took shelter under an overpass with some other farmers from his village, along with an assortment of personal belongings they managed to salvage, including a washing machine.
“I will not make any money this year, I will suffer losses,” he told Reuters, estimating his losses at around 100,000 yuan (£11,213).
‘What can we do? We will not be compensated for our losses.”
In Jiangwan city, six people were injured and several were trapped in landslides caused by heavy rain on Sunday, state media reported.
Photos published by state broadcaster CCTV showed waterfront homes destroyed by a wall of brown mud and people taking shelter on a sodden public sports field.
CCTV reported on Sunday that flooding up to six meters above the warning limit would hit the Pearl River tributaries on Monday morning.
Climate change, caused by human-emitted greenhouse gases, is making extreme weather events more frequent and intense, and China is the world’s largest emitter.
Scientists say weather conditions in China have become more intense and unpredictable, hitting the world’s second-largest economy with heavy rains, drought and severe heat, inflicting a huge personal and economic toll on parts of the country.
The wave of brutal weather in China comes just under a week after Dubai experienced the heaviest rain the UAE has ever recorded, as the ‘historic weather event’ wreaked havoc in the city.
The United Arab Emirates was plunged into apocalyptic scenes when more than 1.7 inches of rain fell in a single day – which is the typical annual average.
Some vehicles, including buses, were almost completely submerged, while the roofs of shopping centers and public buildings collapsed, sending streams of rainwater through them.
Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest airport for international travel, was swamped by the deluge, leaving tourists stranded in the desert.