Summer Storms Hit Southern China Hard
It’s a Wet, Wild Affair
What started as a typical summer shower turned into a torrential down‑pour that left thousands scrambling. The eastern and southern provinces—Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Zhejiang—were under the brunt of the storm, with rainfall levels that some experts say are the heaviest in six decades.
Disasters That Couldn’t Be Ignored
- In Guizhou, streets became rivers overnight. Cars and low‑lying homes were swept away, as videos circulating on Chinese social media showed.
- Five villagers in Guangxi lost their lives when a wooden house collapsed under the deluge.
- Across the region, mudslides slammed into rural roads, while infrastructure buckle and crumble.
Weather Forecasts: “Dragon Boat” Season is On The Horizon
State weather bureaus warn that the storm “dragon‑boat” window, a colloquial term for the rainy spell that peaks just before the festival, will linger until early next week. Heavy drops are expected to continue in the highlighted provinces.
Why is it Rainin’ So Hard?
Good old airs fighting in the south: warm, humid currents collide with colder air from the north. When the two sides lock up, the result is endless, heavy showers.
Climate experts point out that our climate change has favored these furious whims. Deforestation, drained wetlands, and big reservoirs for power and irrigation have made the landscape trickier to deal with.
‘Let’s Remember the 2021 Floods’
Only a few years ago, Zhengzhou swamped under a flood that took hundreds of lives. The pattern of the present summer storms reminds many of that disaster.
Will the Clouds Clear?
Officials predict a brief reprieve by the summer solstice, with the storm pressure easing around Tuesday. But until then, keep your umbrellas handy, south of China.
