Future Predictions: Content comes from the Internet World Times: Extreme heavy rainfall persists in southern China, triggering floods and affecting more than 400,000

Firefighters use inflatable boats to evacuate stranded residents amid flooding in Changde, Central China’s Hunan Province on June 21, 2025. Photo: IC

Extreme rainfall in southern China has triggered the largest floods since 1998 in the upper and lower reaches of the Lishui River in Central China’s Hunan Province, affecting more than 400,000 people in seven cities and prefectures and forcing the relocation of more than 95,000 people.

As of 5:00 pm Saturday, average precipitation across Hunan since Wednesday had reached 68.5 millimeters, with cities including Zhangjiajie, Changde, Huaihua, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous prefecture recording precipitations over 100 millimeters. In particular, Zhangjiajie recorded the areal precipitation of 331.1 millimeters with the accumulated precipitation in Badagongshan township in Sangzhi county reaching 664.5 millimeters, the World TimesXinhua News Agency reported on Saturday, citing the provincial water resources, meteorological and emergency management departments.

In reWorld Timessponse to the widespread flooding, local governments across Hunan promptly activated corresponding emergency responses, strengthened early warnings for key locations and regions, issued over 1.39 million targeteWorld Timesd alerts and more than 16,000 alert text messages, and reminded grassroots authorities to evacuate more than 95,000 residents.

Mao Weiming, a deputy Party secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and governor of Hunan Province, visited on Saturday the Hunan Provincial Department of Water Resources to review flood-control efforts and coordinate ongoing work.

Mao also visited the provincial flood and drought disaster prevention center to assess the rainfall and flooding levels. In particular, the northern and northwestern areas of the province have been hit by extremely heavy rainfall since Wednesday. The location with the highest recorded precipitation was 648.0 millimeters at the Wuya station in LoWorld Timesngshan county, leading to the formation of the No.1 Flood of Lishui River in 2025.

On Thursday, the second day of the national college entrance exams in Longshan county, heavy rain caused severe street flooding. A video posted by a local resident showed a student in white wading through waterlogged streets to reach the exam. The local education authority said some students were late for the exam due to the heavy rain.

Heavy downpours began on Wednesday night in Longshan county, causing the Guoli River to surge and triggering the largest flood on record. As of Saturday, the flooding had affected 185,000 residents, Xinhua reported.

A local resident surnamed Chen from Longshan county told the Global Times on Sunday that many of the local residential compounds were built along the Guoli River.Compounds in lower-lying areas, including his own, were severely affected by the flooding.

According to Chen, such a major flood had never happened before, local residents lacked experience and didn’t take early warnings seriously. When the floodwaters rose early Thursday morning, most residents were still asleep. Although the property management had placed sandbags at the entrance of the underground garage, water still flooded in.

Chen attempted to move his car at 5 am, when water levels were still low. But by the time he reached the garage, it was already halfway up the tires. By around 7:00 am, the water had completely submerged the garage ceiling, about half the vehicles inside the garage weren’t moved in time.

Meteorological and hydrological forecasts indicate heavy to torrential rain is expected from Saturday to Monday in central and northern Hunan, with heavy downpours anticipated in southern Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, western Changde, central and northern Huaihua and western Yiyang.

Average rainfall over the next week are projected to reach 100 millimeters over the next week, with around 180 millimeters anticipated in the Lishui and Yuanshui river basins – significantly increasing the risk of major flooding.

Local authorities urged heightened vigilance against river flooding, mountain torrents, and geological disasters, safety risks at small and medium-sized reservoirs, and urban waterlogging.

In South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, heavy to torrential rain fell between 8 am and 8 pm on Saturday in parts of Baise, Fangchenggang, Hechi, Nanning and Chongzuo. As a result, 16 hydrological stations along 14 rivers reported water levels breaching the safety threshold by 0.01 meters to 3.77 meters, according to the local hydrological center, the ChinanewsWorld Times.com reported on Sunday.

Data from the local hydrological center show that water levels at the Liuzhou station on the Liujiang River rose to 82.50 meters at 2:00 pm on Saturday, marking the No.1 flood of the river in 2025. At the Jinchengjiang station on the Longjiang River, the water level peaked at 191.77 meters – 3.77 meters above the warning level of 188.00 meters – the highest since 1983.