Severe floods kill at least 15 in China’s Chongqing, state media reports

Torrential downpours and flooding have killed at least 15 people and four
others remain missing in Chongqing, southwest China, state-run news agency
Xinhua reported Wednesday, citing local authorities.

The deaths have been recorded since Monday as heavy rains have battered
southwest China, prompting four counties in Chongqing to issue the highest
level red alert warnings.

Videos from the sprawling megacity show residents being rescued, while
authorities work to clear streets of floodwater.

China’s Ministry of Emergency Management also raised its emergency levels.

Neighboring Sichuan province has also been hard hit, with more than 460,000
residents affected by the heavy rain – but no casualties reported so far,
according to the provincial government. More than 85,000 Sichuan residents
have been displaced, state-run broadcaster CCTV reported Tuesday.

At least 400 emergency teams have been dispatched to help rescue and relief
operations in the area, according to state media.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered authorities to “give top priority” to
keeping residents safe and minimizing losses, according to Xinhua. He also
told various government ministries, including flood control and emergency
management authorities, to coordinate the response effort.

This summer has already seen heavy rain, with four people killed and three
missing in Sichuan last week after landslides triggered by rainstorms and
flash floods, Xinhua reported.

And videos emerged on Monday of the dramatic rescue of a couple trapped on
their car roof after a riverbed flooded in central Henan province. Rescue
workers used a drone to deliver rope and life jackets to the couple, who
huddled on their car amid rushing brown water before being “dragged” to the
river bank by a crane, according to CCTV.

The floods come as other parts of China battle intense heat waves in yet more
examples of extreme and unpredictable weather that experts say is a sign of
the climate crisis’ impact.

Earlier this week, the country registered the highest number of hot days over
six months since records began, according to authorities.

China has already experienced four regional heat waves so far this summer,
which arrived earlier and have been more widespread and extreme than in
previous years, according to the National Climate Center.

Northern China, a heavily populated region with hundreds of millions of
residents, has been particularly hard hit, with more heat waves expected in
coming weeks.

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