July 4, 2017: Massive rivers in central and south central China are at maximum capacity and the overflow is flooding millions of people from historic rainfall that began just a few days ago. Dozens of people have perished and many are missing. 10's of thousands of homes have been wiped out by the incredible force of the flood waters.
At least 33 people have been killed and 15 are still missing since June 22, 2017 in at least 8 central and southern provinces of China, including Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Sichuan, and Guizhou, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said today. Water levels in more than 60 rivers have recently risen above warning levels. Xiangjiang River in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, reached a record high of 39.51 meters (129.6 feet) early July 3, higher than the previous record of 39.18 meters (128.54 feet) set by a massive flood in 1998.
Between 100 and 300 mm (3.9 - 11.8 inches) of rain were recorded since June 29 in central and southern Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan, northern Jiangxi, eastern Hubei, southern Anhui and other parts. Guilin, Guangxi, Jiujiang, Loudi and Xiangtan recorded between 420 and 486 mm (16.5 - 19.1 inches). On July 1, Guilin, Wuzhou, Yongzhou, and Xiangtan saw between 200 - 240 mm (7.9 and 9.4 inches), Gullin registered between 250 - 407 mm (9.8 - 16 inches), and the largest three-hour rainfall of 150 - 203 mm (5.9 - 8 inches).
In Hunan Province, the worst hit, floods affected 6.616 million people, 24 people were killed and 8 are still missing. 16 000 houses collapsed and 171 000 were damaged.
Bangladesh could see the same in coming days as climate conditions are favorable for more intense flooding events. Bangladesh is home to over 160 million people.