Seasonal floods hit eastern China, at least 5 dead and over 1,500 evacuated

Beijing, July 23

Floods caused by heavy rain hit eastern China, leaving at least five dead and three missing while over 1,500 people were evacuated, state media reported on Sunday.

China National Radio said the massive floods swept through a village in the Fuyang district of the city of Hangzhou, engulfing many houses on Saturday afternoon.

The rain later led to a partial mountain collapse and mudslide, affecting multiple areas in the district and more than 1,600 households suffered power outage, CCTV said. Over 1,500 people were evacuated, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

Every year, seasonal flooding hits large parts of China, particularly in the semitropical south. However, some northern regions this year have reported the worst floods in 50 years.

The torrents have hit different parts of the country this month and caused casualties. Earlier this month, at least 15 people were killed by floods in the southwestern region of Chongqing.

According to CCTV on Sunday, torrential rain also turned many streets in Liaoning, a northeastern province, into rivers, forcing 5,590 people to be evacuated. About 30 houses and 54 hectares of crops were damaged, it added.

In the central province of Hubei, rainstorms trapped some residents in their vehicles and homes. By Saturday night, authorities had rescued or evacuated some 220 people in Xianning city, state media People’s Daily reported.

China’s deadliest and most destructive floods in recent history were in 1998, when 4,150 people died, most of them along the Yangtze River.

In 2021, more than 300 people died in the central province of Henan. Record rainfall inundated the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on July 20 that year, turning streets into rushing rivers and flooding at least part of a subway line.