Update: Tropical Storm Rumbia has resulted in storms and floods across southern China. See our full update on Storm Rumbia in China here.
Chongqing, Zhejiang, Hubei and Anhui
Four provinces in Southern central China have suffered heavy rainfall for the last few days. The rain has been pouring since 23rd June and some areas have seen as much as 10cm to 18cm fall in just a 24 hour period.
This has left the Chinese provinces of Chongqing, Zhejiang, Hubei and Anhui suffering floods. Nearly 8,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, with reports saying around 1,000 homes have been damaged by the floods. Anhui is the worst affected of the four provinces. Reports from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs on 26th June say that 2 people have been killed and four are missing.
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
Earlier this month, between 17th and 22nd June, torrential rain resulted in floods and landslides northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. More than 3,000 people had to be evacuated and 1,638 houses were left completely demolished by the floods, with a further 6,197 houses damaged. About 12,000 hectares of croplands were also damaged.
Just a few days ago the region was suffering from snowstorms – highly unusual at this time of year.
Gansu Province
At least 10,000 people were left stranded and infrastructure was damaged after severe floods in Gansu province on Wednesday 19th June.
Over 100 students and teachers in northwest China’s Gansu Province were trapped in their school due to floods after a sudden rainstorm triggered dramatic floods which washed away the only bridge linking the school to the outside world. The school – Maiji Junior Middle School – is in the city of Tianshui which is located in a mountainous area of Gansu.
Floods without End
In May I wrote about the “3 years of rain” in Colombia. It seems China is also suffering from endless flooding. Southern China has already seen more than its fair share of flood disasters just in the last few weeks. Areas further south to the four provinces (Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei and Chongqing) currently suffering from flooding were hit by severe flooding in May this year. As I wrote about the China floods on 14th May 2013, for those particular floods:
The worst affected region was the Guangdong province. The capital city of the province, Guangzhou, received nearly 6cm of rain in a space of just 24 hours. However other cities were harder hit, with Xinyihad suffering over 10cm of rain in one day and Yangjiang 25cm of rainfall.
Those floods were especially harsh and resulted in the deaths of at least 33 people, although the number was reported by some media outlets to be as high as 50 or more. Most of the fatalities were in Guangdong.
Sources: ECHO; China.org.cn
