The Three Gorges Reservoir controls the outflow to reduce downstream flood defense pressure on June 29, 2024. The Three Gorges Dam of the Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water-control system, on the Yangtze River in Yichang, Central China’s Hubei Province. Photo: IC

A vast area across southern China continues to be soaked in torrential rainstorms and flooding as China enters the main flood season on Monday, with swelling rivers exceeding warning levels anticipated across the country’s key river basins and the flood control work deployed by the Ministry of Water Resources. 

China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) continued issuing an orange alert, the second highest level, for rainstorm on Monday morning, forecasting that heavy downpours will be expected between Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon in multiple areas including East China’s Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and Shandong provinces, Central China’s Hubei and Hunan provinces, Southwest China’s Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and parts of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with some places expected to be swept through by torrential rains between 250 millimeters and 260 millimeters. 

The NMC forecast that after Wednesday, the rain belt will move northward, and rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will decrease significantly, ushering in an intermittent period of rainfall.
 
According to the Ministry of Water Resources, flooding above warning levels will occur in the Yangtze River, Taihu Lake and the Pearl River basin. 

On Monday morning, the Ministry of Water Resources held a weekly consultation conference to analyze and judge the flood control situation and arrange flood control work in the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, the Pearl River and Taihu River basins. 
 
According to the Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, the No.1 flood of the Yangtze River in 2024 was formed last Friday. 

Due to heavy rainfall in the Wujiang River, the inflow to the Three Gorges Reservoir has continued to rise, forming the first flood of 30,000 cubic meters per second on June 28. 
Starting from June 27, the water level in the Three Gorges Reservoir rose by about 2.9 meters compared with the previous two days, retaining approximately 1.46 billion cubic meters of floodwater.

In Anhui, the provincial meteorological observatory issued an orange alert for rainstorm on Monday morning, forecasting that 10 cities in the province will be hit by heavy rainfall. Due to the combined impact of continuous heavy rainfall and incoming water from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, water levels along the entire main stream of the Yangtze River within Anhui have exceeded the warning line. 

Meteorologists reminded the public to stay vigilant against potential secondary disasters such as flash floods, flooding of small and medium-sized rivers, and landslides that may be triggered by heavy rainfall in the affected areas. 

Moreover, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources and China Meteorological Administration jointly issued the meteorological alerts for geological disasters in multiple affected areas between Monday morning and Tuesday morning. 

Global Times