Massive Floods Engulf China

Floods swamped cities in southern China’s densely populated Pearl River Delta following record-breaking rains, sparking worries about the region’s defences against bigger deluges induced by extreme weather events.

The province once dubbed the “factory floor of the world” is prone to summer floods.

Its defences against disruptive floods were severely tested in June 2022 when Guangdong was pounded by the heaviest downpours in six decades. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated.

Since Thursday, Guangdong has been battered by unusually heavy, sustained and widespread rainfall, with powerful storms ushering in an earlier-than-normal start to the province’s annual flooding season in May and June.

In Qingyuan, a relatively small city of 4 million, residents counted their losses.

“My rice fields are fully flooded, my fields are gone,” Huang Jingrong, 61, told Reuters.

Huang was sheltering under an overpass with other farmers from his village, alongside an assortment of personal belongings, including a washing machine.

“I won’t be making any money this year, I will be making losses,” he told Reuters, estimating his losses at about 100,000 yuan ($13,800).

“What can we do? We won’t get reimbursed for our losses.”

Over the weekend, waterways in Guangdong overflowed including the river near Huang’s village, where flood-waters have reached the second storey of houses after washing out paddy and potato fields.

In other parts of Qingyuan, rescuers tackled neck-high waters to extract residents including an elderly lady trapped in waist-deep water in an apartment building.

Others remained on the upper floors of their houses, waiting for the waters to recede as friends delivered food by boat.

Click to read more: Floods swamp southern China

Source: Reuters