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Hundreds of Thousands Evacuated in China after Heaviest Rains in Decades

Parts of southern China have been hit by the heaviest rain in decades - CNS/AFP
Parts of southern China have been hit by the heaviest rain in decades - CNS/AFP
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Hundreds of Thousands Evacuated in China after Heaviest Rains in Decades

Parts of southern China have been hit by the heaviest rain in decades - CNS/AFP
Parts of southern China have been hit by the heaviest rain in decades - CNS/AFP

The heaviest rainfall in decades has triggered floods and landslides in southern China, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people, state media reported.

The downpours have dangerously swelled waterways in the low-lying Pearl River basin in recent days, threatening manufacturing, shipping and logistics operations at a time when supply chains are already stressed because of China's strict Covid-19 controls, AFP said.

The average rainfall in Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi provinces between early May and the middle of June reached 621 millimeters (24 inches), the highest since 1961, according to China's National Meteorological Center.

State media photos showed people huddled on camp beds in schools converted into temporary shelters in Guangdong's Shaoguan city, and hundreds of tents erected on a sports ground.

In neighboring Guangxi region, muddy water was seen flooding urban areas and emergency rescuers were seen evacuating villagers on rubber dinghies, according to state media images.

Guangdong authorities said Monday that more than 200,000 people have been evacuated over the course of the disaster, and that the damage so far is estimated at 1.7 billion yuan ($254 million).

The evacuees were among almost 480,000 people impacted by the rains and floods, according to the officials.

Shaoguan issued a red flood alert -- the most serious -- Tuesday morning, after multiple rural counties and the major city of Foshan upgraded their flood warnings in recent days.

Guangxi was hit by the heaviest floods since 2005, local media reported.

Meteorological authorities said Monday that 28 of Guangxi's rivers had exceeded warning levels, with rains continuing on Tuesday.

Jiangxi province issued a red alert for flooding on Monday.

And in Fujian, more than 220,000 people have been evacuated since the beginning of this month because of floods, China's official Xinhua news agency said Monday.

Earlier this month, at least 21 people died after flooding induced by torrential rain in the central Chinese province of Hubei.

Catastrophic flooding in central China's Henan province last summer killed 398 people and caused economic losses of more than $10 billion.

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World

Nepalis Fear More Floods as Climate Change Melts Glaciers

Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
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Nepalis Fear More Floods as Climate Change Melts Glaciers

Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP

Mingma Rita Sherpa was not home when the muddy torrent roared into his village in Nepal without warning, but when he returned, he did not recognize his once beautiful settlement.
It took just moments for freezing floodwaters to engulf Thame in the foothills of Mount Everest, a disaster that climate change scientists say is an ominous sign of things to come in the Himalayan nation, AFP reported.
"There is no trace of our house... nothing is left," Sherpa said. "It took everything we owned."
Nepal is reeling from its worst flooding in decades after ferocious monsoon rains swelled rivers and inundated entire neighborhoods in the capital Kathmandu, killing at least 236 people.
Last weekend's disaster was the latest of several disastrous floods to hit the country this year.
Thame was submerged in August by a glacial lake that burst high in the mountains above the small village, famous for its mountaineering residents.
It was once home to Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world's highest mountain Everest, along with New Zealander Edmund Hillary.
"We are afraid to return, there are still lakes above," Sherpa said.
"The fertile land is gone. It is hard to see a future there," he added, speaking from the capital Kathmandu, where he has moved.
A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is the sudden release of water collected in former glacier beds.
These lakes are formed by the retreat of glaciers, with the warmer temperatures of human-caused climate change turbocharging the melting of the icy reservoirs.
Glacial lakes are often unstable because they are dammed by ice or loose debris.
'Rebuild or relocate'
Thame was a popular stop during the trekking season, perched at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,470 feet) beneath soaring snow-capped peaks.
But in August, during the monsoon rains, the village was largely empty.
No one was killed, but the flood destroyed half of the village's 54 homes, a clinic and a hostel. It also wiped out a school started by Hillary.
Sherpa, like many in the village, ran a lodge for foreign trekkers. He also worked as a technician at a hydropower plant, a key source of electricity in the region. That too was damaged.
"Some are trying to rebuild, but the land is not stable," he said. "Parts continue to erode."
Thame's residents are scattered, some staying in neighboring villages, others in Kathmandu.
Local official Mingma Chiri Sherpa said the authorities were surveying the area to assess the risks.
"Our focus right now is to aid the survivors," he said. "We are working to help the residents rebuild or relocate".
'Predict and prepare'
Experts say that the flood in Thame was part of a frightening pattern. Glaciers are receding at an alarming rate.
Hundreds of glacial lakes formed from glacial melt have appeared in recent decades.
In 2020, more than 2,000 were mapped across Nepal by experts from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with 21 identified as potentially dangerous.
Nepal has drained lakes in the past, and is planning to drain at least four more.
ICIMOD geologist Sudan Bikash Maharjan examined satellite images of the Thame flood, concluding it was a glacial lake outburst.
"We need to strengthen our monitoring... so that we can, at least to some extent, predict and prepare," he said.
"The risks are there... so our mountain communities must be made aware so they can be prepared".
Scientists warn of a two-stage impact.
Initially, melting glaciers trigger destructive floods. Eventually, the glaciers will dry up, bringing even greater threats.
Glaciers in the wider Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges provide crucial water for around 240 million people in the mountainous regions.
Another 1.65 billion people depend on them in the South Asian and Southeast Asian river valleys below.
- 'Himalayas have changed' -
Former residents of Thame are raising funds, including Kami Rita Sherpa, who climbed Everest for a record 30th time this year.
Kami Rita Sherpa said the locale had long been a source of pride as a "village of mountaineers", but times had changed.
"The place has no future now", he said. "We are living at risk -- not just Thame, other villages downhill also need to be alert."
The veteran mountaineer said his beloved mountains were under threat.
"The Himalayas have changed," he said. "We have now not only seen the impact of climate change, but experienced its dangerous consequences too."