HONG KONG — China is now in the heart of its peak flood control season, according to weather experts, who are warning that extreme rainfall will grow more frequent and severe from late July through early August. Large portions of northern China are expected to receive between 20% and 50% more rainfall than is typical for this time of year.
Rising temperatures are pushing the country’s rain belt further west and north, expanding humid and semi-humid climate zones and raising the risk of secondary disasters. Experts say factors like rapid urbanization and ongoing infrastructure construction are making those risks even worse.
“Climate change is no longer a future problem for China – it’s already happening,” said Xuebin Zhang, a professor at the University of Victoria in Canada and director of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium.
Zhang added that adapting to these changes must become a bigger part of China’s overall response strategy.
The country has already been hit hard by heavy downpours in recent weeks. On Friday, a section of a mountainside gave way in Pengshui County — a scenic area located roughly 270 kilometres, or about 167 miles, from downtown Chongqing city in the country’s southwest — after torrential rain soaked the region.
At least eight people lost their lives in that landslide, and rescue crews are still searching for as many as 34 others who remain unaccounted for.
China’s National Climate Centre has identified the stretch from mid-July to mid-August — a period traditionally referred to as Qixia Bashang — as the critical flood season. During this window, most of northern China, eastern Inner Mongolia, and northeastern China are expected to see above-average rainfall levels.
“Many areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will see 20% to 50% more rainfall than usual,” the climate centre stated, urging heightened alertness against flood conditions brought on by heavy rain.
Parts of Liaoning province in the northeast have already recorded more than double their normal rainfall totals so far this year.
The climate centre also cautioned that some locations could face extreme downpours powerful enough to set off flash floods, waterlogging in urban areas, and dangerous landslides.
