With rivers roaring out of their channels and rescue boats cutting through brown floodwater, emergency crews fanned out across parts of China after punishing storms left at least 17 people dead and triggered cascading damage that included a burst reservoir dam.
In the southern region of Guangxi, torrential rain and severe flooding linked to Typhoon Maysak killed six people and forced at least 130,000 residents to evacuate, regional officials said. They warned the downpours were not done yet, with more rain expected in Guangxi and neighbouring Guangdong province.
State media reported that fast-flowing, muddy water overwhelmed the banks of 40 rivers and waterways in Guangxi, damaging nearly 13,000 acres of agricultural land—an immediate blow to livelihoods in rural areas already grappling with the storm’s fallout.
Footage aired by state broadcaster CCTV captured the scale of the destruction: torrents surged past crumbled concrete where a reservoir dam wall had given way in Guangxi, as rescuers in life vests worked from inflatable boats amid the churning current.
Reservoir wall collapses in China following heavy rain
Authorities kept Guangxi under the second-highest level of flood-control emergency response, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, as officials monitored waterways and vulnerable infrastructure for signs of further failure.
Flood peaks “exceeding the warning water level” by more than 6 metres were expected at the Wuzhou Hydrological Station in Guangxi early Thursday, Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying said, underscoring concerns that the worst surges were still moving through the system.
“Due to the impact of persistent heavy rainfall and the prolonged passage of floodwaters at high levels, the safety of reservoirs and embankments in the affected areas faces a severe test,” he said, pointing to the strain prolonged flooding can place on dams, levees and riverbanks.
Farther north, the same period of volatile weather turned deadly in the central province of Hubei. Xinhua said thunderstorms and gale-force winds killed 11 people and injured 331, and reported that tornadoes struck elsewhere late on Monday.
Xinhua said one person was missing in Hubei, adding that 4,800 houses were damaged and 22 more had collapsed—numbers that reflect how quickly severe weather can shred roofs, buckle walls and leave communities picking through debris.
Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer, when some regions endure intense rainfall while others bake under scorching heat.
In a separate disaster in northwestern China, state media said the death toll from a landslide in Gansu province rose to 21, a day after the slide buried 33 people.
According to Xinhua, rescue teams rushed to the scene after the landslide struck on Tuesday morning at Rencang village in Dangchang County, as crews searched through unstable earth in a race against time.
“Search and rescue operations at the site of the landslide in Dangchang County have concluded; the landslide resulted in 21 fatalities,” Xinhua reported on Wednesday, citing local authorities.
Local media said investigators were still working to determine what caused the landslide.
