Parts of southern China have been hit by the worst rainstorm in 60 years in recent days, with nearly half a million people affected by floods and landslides in Guangdong province. The Guangdong's Department of Emergency Management said floods caused by torrential rains had forced 177,600 people to relocate, destroyed 1,729 houses, damaged 27.13 hectares of crops and caused more than $250 million in damages.
Guangdong is one of at least seven provinces where the record rainfall has caused severe landslides and flooded roads, according to state media. The downpours come amid warnings by experts that extreme weather is becoming more frequent.
Precipitation in Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian reached its highest since 1961, local weather bureaus said on Saturday, as those areas recorded an average rainfall of 621 millimeters (24.4 inches) in the 46 day period from May 1 and June 15, according to state news agency Xinhua. That figure is equal to more than 90% of the countrywide average of 672.1 millimeters for the whole of 2021, based on data by the National Climate Center.
Weather experts say conditions are ripe for further heavy rainstorms in the south of the country and heatwaves in the north.
Extreme weather warning
China's annual flood season, which traditionally begins in June, is usually worst in the densely populated agricultural areas of the Yangtze River and its tributaries. But it has been growing more intense and dangerous in recent years and experts have warned things could get worse.
In April, the National Climate Center warned that extreme torrential rains were expected to hit southern and southwestern China, as well as the normally dry desert terrain of southern Tibet.
At least 1.1 million residents in China's southeastern province of Jiangxi were affected by floods and downpours between May 28 and June 11, according to state news agency Xinhua, while 223,000 hectares of agricultural farmland in the timber and bamboo-producing province were destroyed.
In early June, torrential rains in southern China killed at least 32 people. More than 2,700 houses were severely damaged and 96,160 hectares of farmland were destroyed in the rice-producing province of Hunan.