A video shared on Chinese social media shows cars being swept away during severe flooding in southern China on Thursday.
The dramatic footage shows a totally flooded street, with cars and debris rapidly floating by and water rising halfway up houses.
The Context
Severe downpours began on Sunday afternoon with authorities measuring 372.4 millimeters (14.7 inches) of rain over one day. The heavy rain and flooding have resulted in village-wide power cuts and crops being buried.
Four people were killed with two others being declared as missing in Wuping County, a coastal province of Fujian. This is due to landslides which were caused by the torrential rain.
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Further landslides occurred in the city of Meizhou. At least five people were killed with fifteen others having gone missing, according to reports from local media, as per AP.
This comes as northern China battles severe drought.
What We Know
A translation of the Weibo video caption, shared by a local Chinese news site, says that several places in Anhui Province have been flooded, including Shaolian Township, Wangcun Town, Sheixian County and Huangshan City.
The same caption stated that local villagers have said this is the most amount of rain seen in 30 years.
The ongoing rains have raised concerns about potential landslides and mudslides in the region.
At least 378 houses have collapsed in Wuping and 2.175 acres of crops have been damaged. This amounts to a loss of 415 million yuan, or $57.2 million, according to the Xinhua news agency, as per the Associated Press.
Over 1,100 people were evacuated in the southwest Guizhou province.
Temperatures remain high in the north, including in Beijing, but rainfall is expected in areas that have been hit by drought in the next ten days, according to the Beijing Climate Centre.
What’s Next
As the rain continues to fall, authorities remain on high alert, fearing that the current flooding could surpass the devastation seen in July 2012, when 79 people lost their lives and tens of thousands were evacuated.
This is the latest in a series of environmental related challenges for China. Last month, flooding caused disasters which left several people dead and 17 missing across the country, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management, as per AP.
The Beijing Meteorological Bureau continues to monitor the situation closely, issuing updates and warnings to help mitigate the impact on residents.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.