Thousands evacuated as severe flooding hits southern China
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A man walking through a flooded street in Zhongshan, in China's southern Guangdong province on June 17.
PHOTO: AFP
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BEIJING – Nearly 70,000 people in southern China have been evacuated after heavy flooding caused by Typhoon Wutip, Chinese state media outlets reported on June 18.
Vast areas of Zhaoqing city in Guangdong province were submerged, with flood waters inundating shopfronts and covering roads, footage from state broadcaster China Central Television showed.
Rescuers pushed stranded cars out of the water and used dinghies to transport residents to safety.
Other images showed rescuers wading through water while carrying stranded people on their backs.
The flooding affected 183,000 residents in Zhaoqing’s Huaiji county, with the city mobilising more than 10,000 rescue personnel, state media outlet Xinhua reported.
The flooding affected much of Guangdong province and the neighbouring Guangxi region.
Footage from CCTV filmed on June 17 showed rescuers in Guangxi dragging a rubber boat crammed with people through knee-deep water as heavy rain continued to fall.
Typhoon Wutip, China’s first typhoon of 2025, made landfall on the island province of Hainan on June 13 before moving to Guangdong the day after.
It brought winds gusting up to 128kmh before weakening to a severe tropical storm during the weekend.
Even as its severity subsided, the storm has continued to bring heavy rain to southern China and Zhejiang province in the east, where the authorities issued an emergency response notice for flooding risks.
Rainfall in some areas had surpassed 100mm, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
The authorities in Vietnam said on June 16 that seven people had died in the country after heavy rains and flooding caused by Wutip.
China has endured spates of extreme weather events, from searing heat and drought to downpours and floods, for several summers.
The country is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter but also a renewable energy powerhouse, seeking to cut carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2060.
Torrential rains in August 2024 – triggered by Typhoon Gaemi – which moved from the Philippines and Taiwan to make landfall in eastern China, killed at least 30 people and left dozens missing. AFP
