On Thursday, media reported that unrelenting rains, hail and winds of near-hurricane intensity lashed southern China, forcing the evacuation of an entire city of more than 1,700 people in Guangdong province.
Buses and helicopters carried all residents of Jiangwan town in the Shaoguan region to safety as a modern wave of flooding hit, reports said, citing local authorities.
“I have never seen such bulky rain in my life, nor have I seen people older than me,” said Jiang, a 72-year-old resident who gave only his last name, according to the state-run China Daily.
Power lines were downed and mobile phone networks were disrupted across the region as rains triggered risky mudslides, flooding homes and destroying bridges.
Since arrival powerful storms Scenes of devastation unfolded across the province, once dubbed the “factory of the world,” last week after dozens of local rainfall records were broken in April.
At a restaurant in the provincial capital of Guangzhou this week, customers watched in horror as winds turned into hurricane-force gales, downing trees and as fast-moving raindrops pummeled the street, videos on social media showed.
Prone to summer floods, the province’s defenses were tested in June 2022 during the heaviest downpours in six decades that forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
The recent storms, which killed at least four people, were caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon and a stronger-than-usual subtropical, semi-permanent high-pressure system circulating north of the equator.
The resulting warmer temperatures have drawn more humid air from the South China Sea and even the Bay of Bengal, weather officials say, leading to more rain and winds.
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