Problems
Floods in China
Severe floods are known in the ancient history of China. In the Shang, Han, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing eras, misfortunes always occurred in the form of rivers overflowing their banks. The Yellow River is even called "the mountain of China." Floods are a common, sad story for China. The country is home to two huge rivers, the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, which overflow their banks during the rainy season (July to August) and often have caused considerable destruction of property and loss of life. Among the most recent major flood events are those of 1870, 1931, 1954, 1998, 2010, and 2020. In 1938, the government deliberately caused a flood on the Yellow River by destroying a dam to prevent Japanese troops from advancing inland. The construction of the Three Gorges Dam helped solve the problem of recurring floods, but it was not completed until 2012. Unseasonal floods hit China in April 2024. Precipitation has fallen two to three times more than usual at this time of year. The strong convective weather in southern China was caused by a stronger-than-normal subtropical high, a semi-permanent high-pressure system circulating north of the equator. The stronger subtropical high led to warmer temperatures that drew in more moisture-laden air from the South China Sea and even the Bay of Bengal, Chinese meteorologists said, resulting in intense precipitation. Thunderstorms are expected to return after a brief respite, marking an unusually early wet spell that is more typical in May and June. Weather events in China have become more intense and unpredictable because of global warming, scientists say, with record-breaking rainfall and drought assailing the world's second-largest economy, often at the same time. Precipitation records for April have already been broken in many parts of Guangdong, with the cities of Shaoguan, Qingyuan, Zhaoqing, and Jiangmen to the west and north of the provincial capital, Guangzhou, half-submerged in flood-waters.
Causes of Floods in China
Floods in China are caused by various factors: ● Monsoon rains. China's summer monsoon season sees heavy rainfall, especially in regions such as the Yangtze River basin and the Pearl River Delta. Intense rainfall over a short period can cause rivers and drainage systems to flood, resulting in flooding. ● Typhoons. Typhoons from the Pacific Ocean can bring heavy rain and strong winds to China's coastal areas, causing widespread flooding and damage. ● Deforestation and soil erosion. Deforestation and soil erosion, often caused by agriculture and urbanization, can reduce the land's ability to absorb water. This increases surface runoff and the likelihood of flooding. ● Urbanization and infrastructure. Rapid urbanization and infrastructure expansion can alter natural drainage patterns and increase the number of impervious surfaces such as sidewalks and buildings. This can increase runoff during heavy rainfall, leading to urban flooding. ● Land subsidence in China has become a critical environmental problem due to extensive groundwater exploitation. ● Climate change. Climate change may increase precipitation patterns and the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, including floods. Rising global temperatures could also cause glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau to melt, affecting river flows downstream. These factors often interact complexly, making flood control challenging for Chinese authorities.
Gallery
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Timelines
2024
April 22
Guangdong province in southern China, with a population of more than 127 million people, was hit by heavy rains, with 60.9 cm of rain falling in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, in April. The water level at the Bay River, Feilaixia Reservoir in Qingyuan exceeded the 50-year maximum, and at the Feilaixia hydroelectric power station, it approached the 100-year maximum. In neighboring Guangxi, west of Guangdong province, strong hurricane-force winds swept through the region, destroying buildings. According to the official Xinhua news agency, 4 people (three residents and a rescuer) were killed, 10 were missing, and about 110 thousand people were evacuated. Across the province, 36 houses collapsed and 48 were seriously damaged.
April 21
Major rivers, waterways, and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province threaten to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people. Calling the situation “grim,” local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are hitting water levels in a rare spike that only has a one-in-50 chance of happening in any given year, the state broadcaster CCTV news said on Sunday. China’s water resource ministry issued an emergency advisory, CCTV reported. Data showed 2,609 hydrological stations with daily rainfall greater than 50mm (1.97in), accounting for about 59% of all observation stations. At 8 am on Sunday, 27 hydrological stations in Guangdong were on alert. In neighboring Guangxi, west of Guangdong, violent hurricane-like winds whipped the region, destroying buildings, state media video footage showed. Some places have also experienced hailstones and major flooding, CCTV said. At 10 am, 65 landslides were recorded in Hezhou, located in Guangxi, state media reported.
April 20
A 12-hour stretch of heavy rain, starting from 8 pm (1200 GMT) on Saturday, battered the central and northern parts of the province in the cities of Zhaoqing, Shaoguan, Qingyuan, and Jiangmen. According to state media, almost 20,000 people have been evacuated from Qingyuan, and some power facilities in Zhaoqing were damaged, cutting power to some places. According to local media, officials in Qingyuan also suspended classes in kindergartens and primary and secondary schools. “Please look at Zhaoqing’s Huaiji County, which has become a water town. The elderly and children in the countryside don’t know what to do with power outages and no signal,” said one user on the popular social media site Weibo.
2020
July
This summer, China was hit hard by the East Asian monsoon. By the end of July, flood warnings had been issued for 433 rivers, thousands of homes and businesses had been destroyed, and millions were at risk of losing their homes. Water levels in Lake Poyang, China's largest freshwater lake, reached a record 22.6 meters, prompting authorities in the eastern province of Jiangxi (population 45 million) to impose "wartime" measures.
2014
July
In China, due to severe floods, the ancient city of Fenghuang in Hunan province, which is considered one of the most beautiful in the country, was flooded. More than 50 thousand city residents were forced to leave their homes due to the rampant nature.
2012
The Three Gorges Dam was put into operation. The construction of the Three Gorges Dam helped solve the problem of recurring floods.
2010
The Three Gorges Dam has proven effective during an unusually wet summer, holding back much of the resulting flood water and thereby minimizing the impact of downstream flooding. However, the dam still had to open its floodgates to relieve the high volume of water in the reservoir, and floods and landslides in the Yangtze basin killed several hundred people and caused significant property damage.
1998
The Yangtze overflowed its banks. The death toll was almost 4 thousand people. But if the behavior of the Yangtze could be at least somehow predicted, then the Yellow River was more difficult to keep track of. Because of its unpredictability, the Chinese in ancient times considered it the most “capricious” river in the Celestial Empire. After a series of floods, they began to call it “The Sorrow of China.” More than three thousand people died, 15 million became homeless, and economic losses reached $24 billion. Recognizing the political importance of the floods, the Chinese government has rushed to introduce new measures (from infrastructure investments to land use reforms) to prevent such disasters from happening again.
1954
The Yangtze overflowed its banks, which led to irreparable consequences. As a result of the natural disaster, about 30 thousand people died.
1938
The government deliberately caused a flood on the Yellow River by destroying a dam to prevent Japanese troops from advancing inland.
1931
August 25
In the evening, water entered the Grand Canal and washed away the dams. About 200,000 people drowned that night, most of them asleep. Due to the huge number of corpses in the region, epidemics of cholera and typhoid began; due to famine caused by lack of food, cases of infanticide and cannibalism were recorded. According to various sources, from 145 thousand to 4 million people died. It is considered the largest natural disaster in recorded human history.
August 19
The water level was 16 meters higher than normal.
June
Showers continued into the summer, peaking in July and August. There was also unprecedented cyclone activity: in July of that year alone, nine cyclones passed through the region, while the norm is two cyclones per year. South-Central China has been hit by a series of devastating floods. By July, the country's largest rivers, the Yangtze, Huaihe, and Yellow Rivers, overflowed their banks. Soon, high water reached Nanjing, which was the country's capital at that time, and almost destroyed it.
April
The winter of 1930/1931 was snowy. There was a lot of rain in the spring, and the rivers began to overflow.
1930
From 1928 to 1930, China experienced drought.
1870
Floods on the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) in central and eastern China occurred periodically and frequently, causing significant property destruction and loss of life. Among them is the flood of 1870.