Heavy flooding triggered by torrential rain has submerged vehicles and prompted the evacuation of more than 200 residents in a city in southern China, according to state media reports on Tuesday.
Record Rainfall in Qinzhou
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that rescue crews deployed inflatable boats to assist residents trapped in their homes in Qinzhou, located in the Guangxi region. Video footage released by Xinhua showed rescuers wading through chest-high water and firefighters carrying elderly individuals in their arms.
Authorities in Qinzhou stated that the city’s meteorological station recorded 270 millimetres (approximately 10 inches) of rainfall over a 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. on Monday. This marked the highest single-day rainfall ever recorded in the city during the month of April.
Unseasonal Downpour
In a post on the social media platform WeChat, local officials quoted meteorological analyst Lin Nan as saying that such intense rainfall in South China’s coastal regions typically occurs only after the arrival of the summer monsoon in mid-to-late May. Lin noted that it is highly unusual to witness such a heavy downpour in late April.
Despite the severe flooding, schools across Qinzhou resumed classes on Tuesday morning, and traffic was reported to be running normally in most areas, according to a news outlet operated by Chinese emergency management authorities.
