Components of the Guangdong Province-based industrial hub Because of the increasing floods and the possibility of landslides, school, office activity, and public transit have been suspended.
Nearly half a million people have been displaced from their homes and their lives have been turned upside down in the province of Jiangxi, which is nearby.
About the same amount of people have been impacted in the province of Guangdong, mostly in the cities of Shaoguan, Heyuan, and Meizhou.
Rainfall predictions for the next several days call for more of the same heavy downpours that have caused roads to collapse in some areas of towns and swept away homes, automobiles, and crops. The Chinese government issued the year’s first “red alert,” the highest possible warning level, on Sunday, in anticipation of probable mountain torrents.
Residents who were stranded inside their houses in flooded villages were rescued by rescue teams in Zhejiang province, which is located north of Guangdong. The rescue crews used inflatable boats.
Storm warnings were issued for most of the eastern provinces, including Beijing, while reservoirs in the central province of Henan were at flood status, discharging torrents of water downstream. These warnings were extended farther to the north.
Flooding occurs throughout the summer months in China on a yearly basis, most often in the central and southern regions of the country since these regions typically get the greatest rainfall. In certain regions, the flooding that occurred this year is the worst it has been in decades. Additionally, the tight COVID-19 laws that have choked travel, work, and everyday life in a large portion of the nation have been made worse by this year’s water.
The biggest flooding to hit China in recent history took place in 1998, when more than 2,000 people lost their lives and approximately 3 million dwellings were devastated, most of which were located along the Yangtze, which is China’s largest river.
The government has made significant investments in hydropower and flood control projects, notably as the enormous Three Gorges Dam that is located in the Yangtze River.
Because of climate change, tropical storms are becoming more powerful all around the world. This is leading to an increase in flooding, which poses a risk to human life, agricultural production, and groundwater supplies.