Flooding was caused over areas of southwest China on Friday as a result of persistent and heavy rain that fell throughout the day without letup. Roads and houses were both partially submerged as a result of the flooding.
On Thursday, the city of Beihai in Guangxi logged 453 millimeters of rainfall, which was a particularly severe first round of summer showers known as “dragon boat water” in the local dialect. According to the China Meteorological Administration, it established a new daily record for the region in the month of June.
Videos that were circulating on social media indicated that flooded streets in Beihai had cars that were partially submerged in water, and that at one multi-story building, water was cascading down a staircase as firemen hurried to rescue the occupants of the building.
According to the broadcaster CCTV, as of 7 a.m. in the local time zone on Friday (2300 GMT Thursday), the neighboring city of Yulin had received 35 hours of rainfall.
According to reports from the meteorological office, the southern region of China is going to have more rain in the coming days, and abrupt thunderstorms are also likely to develop in the region’s northeast.
Because of climate change, China, which is prone to flooding, is sounding an increasingly alarming warning about more extreme weather. In May, the province of Guangxi was hit by an extremely uncommon and severe drought, and the region’s rainfall dropped to levels not seen in the past 60 years.
The granary of China, the central province of Henan, was recently slammed by excessive rains that led crops to sprout or be affected by blight, which sparked concerns about China’s ability to maintain its level of food security.