China’s Guangxi deluged by flood waters from upstream province

BEIJING – Towns and villages by a major river in China’s Guangxi lay half-submerged as flood waters from a province upstream roared into the mountainous region, with the expected landfall of a tropical cyclone later on June 26 compounding disaster risk.

The massive flooding that overwhelmed the cities of Rongjiang and Congjiang in Guizhou province on June 24 has

spread downstream to other parts of south-west China

, including rural settlements in Guangxi by the banks of the Liu river, which originates in Guizhou.

The Guangxi township of Meilin was the worst hit, state media reported on June 26, with flood waters at their peak more than 4m above what was considered safe.

Even as flood waters passed and dangerous surface run-off began to recede, south-western China – from Guizhou and Guangxi to Chongqing, Yunnan and Sichuan – remained on high alert for secondary disasters such as road collapses, landslides and hydro-dam overflows.

“Rural areas face significant challenges due to limited infrastructure and resources,” said Professor Chen Xiaoguang at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu. “Strengthening these systems in rural counties will be key to reducing the long-term impact of increasingly severe weather.”

Urban areas typically have stronger capacity to respond to floods, he said, but not all cities are equally equipped. Rongjiang, for instance, is a county-level area where resources are more limited.

In more remote areas, challenges include insufficient coverage of monitoring stations, making localised precipitation forecasting difficult, said Professor Meng Gao from Hong Kong Baptist University.

Heavy blow

On June 24, the Guizhou city of Rongjiang, which is located at the confluence of three rivers, was hit by a flood on a scale that Chinese meteorologists said could happen only once in 50 years and at a speed that shocked its 300,000 residents.

The flow rate of one section of the Liu river in Rongjiang surged to 11,800 cubic m per second, the equivalent of nearly five Olympic-size swimming pools.

That was more than 80 times the average rate of flow.

At least six people were killed.

“This flood is a heavy blow to us,” said a Rongjiang resident whose cake shop was completely inundated, and whose small electric scooter used for deliveries was damaged beyond repair. “My family is a poor household that has just escaped poverty. This cake shop is our only source of income.”

Many displaced residents were temporarily staying at local hotels, which were also hosting rescue personnel and reconstruction workers, according to phone calls to more than 10 hotels in downtown Rongjiang.

In conversations with local water resource bureaus, Southwestern University’s Prof Chen said local staff emphasised how their work grew more intense during summer, actively monitoring weather patterns, reinforcing infrastructure, and rehearsing emergency responses in anticipation of extreme weather events.

Looming storm

As deluge-hit areas began to remove silt left behind by the flooding and restore power, telecommunications and water networks, rains from a tropical depression expected to make landfall in Guangxi on the night of June 26 could affect restoration and clean-up work or even risk a new round of flooding.

The tropical depression made landfall on China’s island province of Hainan early on June 26, and later again in Guangdong on the mainland, bringing more rain to a region still reeling from

Typhoon Wutip two weeks ago

.

Extreme storms and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for Chinese officials, as they threaten to overwhelm ageing flood defences, displace millions of people and cause billions of dollars in economic losses.

“Climate change is making extreme weather more frequent and unpredictable,” said Prof Chen. “While progress has been made, continued adaptation and investment, especially in forecasting technologies and resilient infrastructure, remain essential.” REUTERS