In Hunan province, 10 people were killed this month and three are still missing, with 286,000 people being evacuated and a total of 1.79 million people affected, officials told a news conference Wednesday. More than 2,700 homes have collapsed or been severely damaged and 96,160 hectares of crops have been destroyed – heavy losses for a province that serves as a major rice hub for China. Immediate financial losses are estimated at more than 4 billion yuan ($ 600 million), according to officials. Late last month, floods and landslides killed eight people in Fujian coastal province, five in southwest Yunnan province and two children swept away by torrents in Guangxi province. Chinese authorities are on high alert for this year’s floods, which began this month after 398 people died in catastrophic floods caused by unprecedented rainfall in central Henan province last summer. Summer floods are common in China, especially in densely populated agricultural areas along the Yangtze River and its tributaries. But scientists have been warning for years that the climate crisis would exacerbate extreme weather events, making them more deadly and more frequent. Global warming has already intensified heavy rainfall in East Asia, which includes southern China. The intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall is expected to increase as the Earth warms, according to the latest science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The number of strong tropical cyclones has also increased. Henan, an area traditionally not flooded regularly, saw what authorities called a “once in a thousand year” rainfall at some weather stations last July. The capital of Zhengzhou Province, which accounted for the largest number of dead, was ill-prepared for the flood. City officials ignored five consecutive red torrential rains – which should have forced authorities to halt rallies and suspend classes and businesses. Floodwaters poured into the city’s subway tunnels, trapping hundreds of passengers and killing 12 of them. Tragedy has gripped the nation, raising questions about how prepared Chinese cities are for extreme weather. In anticipation of this year’s floods, Chinese authorities have warned that a large number of “extreme weather events” are expected to hit the country. Extreme levels of rainfall are expected to hit southern and southwestern parts of the country, as well as southern Tibet, according to China’s National Climate Center. In April, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission told Chinese cities to learn from the Zhengzhou disaster and do their best to prevent urban floods given the “acute influence of extremists”. weather phenomena “this year.
