China is experiencing severe flooding.

China's Emergency Management Ministry said that floods have forced the evacuation of approximately 774,000 people across 26 provinces and cities, and 81 people are missing or dead. In addition, more than 10,000 homes have been destroyed. Authorities in southwestern Sichuan province reported that three people died and 12 are missing after storms began on the night of June 26 in Mianning County. In one incident, two vehicles fell into a river, killing two people and leaving three others unaccounted for.

“In more than 20 days since June, the water levels of 197 rivers have exceeded warning levels. Notably, the water levels of 10 rivers have reached historically high levels,” People's Daily quoted Liu Zhiyu, Deputy Director of the Hydrological Forecasting Center under the Ministry of Water Resources of China. According to People's Daily, in Chongqing city, a red alert was issued on June 22nd for the Qi River. This is the first time the highest level flood warning has been issued in the city since the hydrological monitoring system was established 80 years ago.

A tea shop owner in Chongqing shared a video on Chinese social media showing the entire floor of her shop submerged in water and mud. “When I woke up this morning, I saw that the water had flooded through the glass doors. All the sofas and equipment had been swept away. I wanted to jump into the water to salvage something, but I couldn’t,” shared the tea shop owner, Qin.

According to the People's Daily, the China National Meteorological Center reports that this year's extreme weather is due to the weakening of the El Niño phenomenon that began in November 2019 and is likely to continue affecting southwestern China and the lower Yangtze River basin in the coming period.

Last week, the Global Times reported that the water level at the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric dam, had reached 147 meters, 2 meters higher than the flood warning level. Notably, the volume of water flowing into the Three Gorges Dam reached 26,500 cubic meters.³/second. The alarmingly high water levels have fueled rumors that the Three Gorges Dam is at risk of collapsing and that residents in surrounding areas need to be evacuated. However, Chinese experts have denied the information published by Western media regarding the risk of the Three Gorges Dam collapsing.

Huong Thao