Emergency responders in China are conducting water rescues by swimming through dangerous floodwaters and deploying boats to save stranded residents after devastating storms claimed the lives of at least 25 people and forced widespread shutdowns of educational institutions, commercial operations and transportation networks across central and southwestern regions of the country on Wednesday.
Weather officials warn that additional downpours are forecast to continue battering southern and central regions, encompassing Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan provinces, creating elevated dangers for mudslides, rapid flooding and serious urban water accumulation, according to government authorities.
Video footage from Chinese social media platform Douyin captured scenes in Dachong, located in southern Guangdong, where motor scooters disappeared beneath the water with only steering components remaining visible above the surface, while emergency teams in inflatable watercraft saved a resident who had sought refuge in a tree to avoid the rising waters.
Within Hubei province in central China, emergency response teams and military units were observed assisting local inhabitants in escaping perilous conditions, with many of those rescued being elderly community members.
Senior residents were transported from their residences using watercraft, while some rescue personnel entered flooded structures by swimming to reach individuals who had become trapped inside, according to video documentation from state television network CCTV.
Broadcasting footage from CCTV depicted one rescue scenario where emergency workers faced difficulties reaching a trapped individual surrounded by chest-deep water behind a doorway. The network reported that rescue teams required a full hour to successfully bring the person to a secure location.
Overhead camera footage revealed extensive flood coverage across large portions of Hubei province and its neighboring southern province of Hunan.
The exceptionally widespread zone of heavy precipitation, extending across more than 1,000 km (621 miles), resulted from the meeting of significant moisture sources originating from the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The weather pattern’s slow movement also contributed to substantial accumulated rainfall totals, meteorological experts from China explained.
“A new round of rainfall will arrive tomorrow (Thursday), bringing significant precipitation to many areas in both the north and south,” China’s weather bureau said. Government officials indicated that regions such as Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi, and Guangdong would face additional torrential downpours.
