Guangxi Faces Severe Flooding as Waters Surge from Upstream Regions in China
A tropical cyclone is predicted to make landfall later on Thursday, increasing the potential of calamity as floodwaters from a province upstream rushed into the hilly area, leaving towns and villages beside a major river in Guangxi, China, half-submerged.
The Liu river, which rises in Guizhou, has caused the floods that swept through the Guizhou province’s cities of Rongjiang and Congjiang on Tuesday to extend downstream to other areas of southwest China, including rural communities in Guangxi.
According to state media on Thursday, the Guangxi township of Meilin was the most severely affected, with floodwaters at their highest point exceeding 4 meters (13 feet) above the safe level.
Southwest China, from Guizhou and Guangxi to Chongqing, Yunnan, and Sichuan, was still on high alert for secondary disasters like landslides, road collapses, and hydro-dam overflows even as the hazardous surface run-off started to decrease.
According to Chen Xiaoguang, a professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, “rural areas face significant challenges due to limited infrastructure and resources.”
“Strengthening these systems in rural counties will be key to reducing the long-term impact of increasingly severe weather.”
He noted that while urban regions are often better prepared to handle floods, not all cities are. For example, Rongjiang is a county-level region with fewer resources.
According to Meng Gao, a professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, one of the difficulties in more isolated locations is the lack of monitoring station coverage, which makes it challenging to anticipate localised precipitation.
“HEAVY BLOW”
The city of Rongjiang, Guizhou, which is situated at the meeting point of three rivers, had a flood on Tuesday that frightened its 300,000 inhabitants and was of a magnitude that Chinese meteorologists estimated could only occur once in 50 years.
One portion of the Liu river in Rongjiang had a rise in flow rate of 11,800 cubic meters per second, which is comparable to almost five Olympic-sized swimming pools. That was over 80 times the flow rate on average.
There were at least six fatalities.
A resident of Rongjiang remarked, “This flood is a heavy blow to us,” as their cake shop was totally submerged and their little electric scooter, which was used for deliveries, was irreparably wrecked.
“My family is a low-income family that recently managed to overcome poverty. The only source of income for our family is this cake shop.
Phone enquiries to over ten hotels in downtown Rongjiang revealed that many evacuated locals were temporarily lodging at local establishments that were also housing rescue and reconstruction workers.
According to Chen of Southwestern University, who spoke with local water resource bureaus, local employees emphasised how their work became more demanding in the summer, when they actively monitored weather patterns, strengthened infrastructure, and practiced emergency responses in case of severe weather.
STORM LOOMING
Rains from a tropical depression that is predicted to make landfall in Guangxi on Thursday night might have an impact on restoration and cleanup efforts or perhaps put a new round of flooding at danger as deluge-hit districts started to clear silt left behind by the flooding and restore power, telecommunications, and water networks.
The tropical depression brought extra rain to a region already recovering from Typhoon Wutip two weeks ago when it made landfall early Thursday in the island province of Hainan and later again in Guangdong on the mainland.
For Chinese policymakers, extreme storms and severe flooding—which meteorologists attribute to climate change—present significant concerns as they have the potential to overrun old flood defences, uproot millions of people, and result in billions of dollars in economic losses.
“Climate change is making extreme weather more frequent and unpredictable,” Chen stated.
“While progress has been made, continued adaptation and investment – especially in forecasting technologies and resilient infrastructure – remain essential.”
Hailed as "the bright spot" in a gloomier global economy, India outpaced China as the world's fastest growing economy in Read more
MUMBAI: The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged over 335 points to hit a fresh 19-month low and the NSE Nifty crashed Read more
Donald Trump has accused China of “raping” the U.S., the sharpest criticism of the Communist giant’s trade policies by the Read more
Two 5.3-magnitude earthquakes hit parts of Tibet on Sunday but no damage was reported so far, Chinese authorities said. The Read more
