Sichuan Brace for the Worst Flooding in 70 Years

CdExpat Team

August 17, 2020

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Chengdu has activated a level-four emergency response as Sichuan brace for the worst flooding they have seen in 70 years. A further 1,000 people have been excavated from affected areas in the city following the continuous rain over the weekend. Now, further downpours continue to wreak havoc in Sichuan. Torrential rain has hit the western Sichuan Basin and the eastern part of the plateau area in western Sichuan.

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Areas with the Most Rainfall

Yangtze river will see its 5th flood of this year on Monday 17th. This comes just days after its 4th flood taking place last weekend on Saturday 15th. The lower reaches of the Yangtze are still recovering from heavy flooding last month. As a result, this flooding affected a large part of southeastern China. In all, 219 people have died or are missing in this year’s floods and more than 63 million residents have been affected.

China’s Ministry of Water Resources, E Jingping, has urged greater efforts in flood control over the next couple of days. Southwestern, northwestern, northern and northeastern China are just some of the regions expecting further heavy rainfalls.

Up to 300mm (11.8 inches) of rain could hit Sichuan province on Monday as reported by the National Met Centre. Between 30-50mm of rain is expected to fall per hour in the provinces of Yunnan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, rising to over 70mm an hour in some scattered areas.

More Flooding for Sichuan this Month

Sichuan province hit twice in this month with more floods. Last week, over 107,000 people in Chengdu, Deyang, Mianyang, Guangyuan, Ya’an and Meishan were affected as heavy rainfall covered 12% of the province, causing severe flooding. China Daily reported that 11 people had died or where missing in Ya’an whilst last week with more than 40,000 people being relocated from across the province.

The continuous rainfall between 8am Saturday to 8am Sunday has caused 41 rivers in the province to exceed warning levels. 22 of these reached the so-called safe level (set as twice the level of floodwaters during last year’s flood season). Moreover, 60,000 people have been evacuated across Chengdu.

Taiwan News reports that Neijiang City’s Zizhong County on the middle reaches of the Tuojiang River should expect to face the peak of the flooding at 4:00 p.m. The Tuo River has overflowed and more than half of Guidezhen has been flooded. In response, local authorities have evacuated more than 3,000 people, half of the local population. Predictions show that three-quarters of the town could become inundated as water levels continue to rise.