Severe landslides have been reported in at least seven provinces and many roads have been flooded, according to state media. In southwestern Guizhou Province, bloated rivers spilled over roads, sweeping away cars and homes, videos showed on social media. Rainfall in Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian reached its highest level since 1961, according to local meteorological services on Saturday, as these areas recorded an average rainfall of 621 millimeters (24.4 inches) over the 46-day period from May 1 and on June 15, according to state news. Xinhua agency. This percentage is equal to more than 90 percent of the nationwide average of 672.1 millimeters for the entire 2021, according to data from the National Climate Center. Weather experts say the conditions are ripe for further heavy rainfall in the south of the country and heat waves in the north. “Cold and hot air have converged in southern China and both sides have reached a dead end,” Wang Weiyue, an analyst at weather.com.cn, an arm of the China Meteorological Agency, told Reuters. Heavy rains are expected to continue until Tuesday in the southern provinces of Guizhou, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang and Guangxi and then move north.
EXTREME WEATHER WARNING
The annual flood season in China traditionally begins in June and is usually more severe in densely populated agricultural areas along the Yangtze River and its tributaries. But it has become more intense and dangerous in recent years, and experts have warned that things could get worse. In April, the National Climate Center warned that heavy torrential rains were expected to hit the southern and southwestern parts of the country, as well as the usually dry soil of the southern Tibetan desert. China recorded an average annual rainfall of 672.1 millimeters last year, which was 6.7% above normal, according to a report released by the National Climate Center in May. The report concluded that China’s anomalies were deteriorating, especially in terms of rainfall intensity during the summer months. The record rainfall comes amid China’s efforts to tackle climate change. The country’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment last week announced a new national climate change strategy to build resilience to the effects of global warming by 2035. The roadmap places more emphasis on monitoring climate change and its effects, as well as in the development of early warning and risk management systems. At least 1.1 million people in China’s southeastern province of Jiangxi were hit by floods and rain between May 28 and June 11, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency, while 223,000 hectares of agricultural land in the province produced timber and bamboo. In early June, torrential rains in southern China killed at least 32 people. More than 2,700 houses were severely damaged and 96,160 hectares of agricultural land were destroyed in the rice-producing province of Hunan.
HIGH TYPES
Last summer, 398 people were killed as catastrophic floods hit the central province of Henan. Among the dead were 12 passengers who drowned in a subway line. The capital of Zhengzhou province recorded the highest number of deaths in what authorities called “one in a thousand years” of downpour. Government authorities have since been on high alert amid growing questions about how prepared Chinese cities are for extreme weather events.
