More than 80,000 people have been evacuated from their homes by the authorities as Sichuan is hit by extreme rains, triggering floods, with nearly half a million people impacted across six cities.
On Monday, the authorities in Sichuan, China, told state-run news agency Xinhua that water levels across the province were dangerously high, prompting the evacuation of 80,794 people.
The authorities said that more than 440,000 people had been impacted by the rains , with extreme rainfall being seen across the state. The highest recorded rainfall was in Qingshen in Quxian County, where 575mm (23in) of rainfall was recorded in just two days.
Alert warnings have been raised at 14 monitoring stations along the Fujiang, Jialing, and Qujiang rivers, officials told Xinhua. At one station, the water level exceeded the alert threshold by 1.47m (58in).
On Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV said extreme weather in the southwestern province of Sichuan had already caused 250 million yuan ($38.57 million) in economic losses. It reported that 45 houses had been destroyed while 118 were severely damaged.
Photos and videos shared online show the extent of the damage, as floodwater ravaged towns and cities across the province.
China’s climate experts have warned that the country will have to improve its resilience to extreme weather – notably rainfall – in the coming years, as such events could become increasingly common. “Extreme events such as high temperatures and heavy rainfall have increased and the level of climate risk in China is on the rise,” said Chao Qingchen, vice-director of China’s National Climate Center.
In July, record rainfall was registered at 19 weather monitoring stations in the central province of Henan. More than 300 people died in the ensuant floods, and many more remain missing. The city of Zhengzhou, on the banks of the Yellow River, which is home to some 12 million people, registered the majority of the fatalities, at 292.
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