At least 21 killed as heavy rain drenches southern, central China

HONG KONG – Torrential rain across southern and central China triggered widespread flooding on May 19, killing at least 21 people, closing schools and businesses, and disrupting transport and power supplies, the authorities said.

China’s weather agency said areas in Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan faced a high risk of rain-related disasters, including landslides, flash floods and severe urban flooding and waterlogging.

The authorities said they have allocated 150 million yuan (S$28 million) for disaster relief and launched emergency responses in several affected areas.

Many residents in Jingzhou, a city in central Hubei, were knee-deep in water and able to catch fish swimming in the streets, according to images posted on Chinese video platform Douyin. Some cars were nearly completely submerged on roads surrounded by residential and commercial buildings.

Ten people were confirmed dead after a pickup truck carrying 15 farm workers fell into a flooded river in China’s south-western region of Guangxi amid heavy rain, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

In separate incidents, heavy rain and flooding killed four people in south-western Guizhou province, three in a low-lying village in central Hubei province, and another person in southern Hunan province, CCTV said.

Schools, businesses and transport services have been suspended, and the authorities are relocating residents in some parts of Hubei and Hunan, state media reported.

Heavy rain expected along Yangtze River

The unusually large area of intense rainfall – spanning more than 1,000km – was due to the convergence of abundant moisture from the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

The slow-moving nature of the weather system also led to the high cumulative rainfall, according to Chinese meteorologists.

China’s National Meteorological Centre said severe weather would gradually move east and south across China over the next two days. From May 20, the heaviest rainfall is expected along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

China’s southern Hainan island issued a geological disaster warning on May 19, as a mountainside collapsed on a highway in Lingshui, prompting the authorities to close several major roads in that area of the island.

Separately, the authorities in Guangxi set up temporary shelters on 99 sites for more than 4,000 residents and relocated 7,000 people after a magnitude 5.2 earthquake on May 18, which sent tremors across multiple cities in the region. REUTERS