{"id":34083,"date":"2016-07-08T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T10:37:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-10-09T12:35:31","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T12:35:31","slug":"9083-south-china-faces-worst-floods-in-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/9083-south-china-faces-worst-floods-in-decades\/","title":{"rendered":"South China faces worst floods in decades"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s like someone poked a hole in the sky, the rain just keeps pouring down, you can\u2019t breathe,\u201d said Mrs Wu from Donghu, a district in Wuhan a city in central China with over 10 million residents. Mrs Wu lives in Chunshuli, an affluent neighbourhood that\u2019s relatively high above sea level. But even so, she doesn\u2019t feel safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the beginning of July relentless downpours have overwhelmed Wuhan, paralysing its transport system and plunging vast areas of the city into chaos.<\/p>\n

At the start of July, the Yangtze River Tunnel \u2013 a major arterial road linking the districts of Hankou and Wuchang – was temporarily closed, electric buses stopped running, river ferries stayed in harbour, bus routes diverted, and many subway stations closed affecting civilians and businesses.<\/p>\n

On July 6 the city\u2019s education authorities announced that all schools would close, while a third of staff from the city\u2019s criminal investigations bureau were redirected to flood emergency response teams.<\/p>\n

Worst rain for 18 years<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The last time Wuhan suffered downpours on a comparable scale was in 1998, when monsoon rains affected 28 provinces and 223 million people, with around 3,000 losing their lives and causing 166 billion yuan (US$24.8 billion) in damage.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s rainfall has already broken that record. Data from Wuhan\u2019s meteorological authorities<\/a> showed that between July 1 \u2013 6, rainfall in Wuhan\u2019s four main districts reached 932.6mm, 1087.2mm, 887mm and 833.9mm \u2013 as much as 549mm higher than 1998 levels in certain areas.<\/p>\n

This year, 1.7 million people across the province have been affected by floods or hailstorms, leaving 69 dead, 16 missing, and 27.07-billion yuan\u2019s worth of damage behind, according to the <\/span>provincial civil affairs authorities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

China’s President Xi Jinping, has ordered the army to step up its relief efforts and work alongside especially trained flood rescue teams, such as the <\/span>Yangtze Rescue Volunteers<\/a>. Images of people trapped in their homes or rescue teams saving thousands of pigs<\/a>, which had been stranded at their farm, have been widely shared on social media.<\/p>\n

People living in poor housing in low-lying areas have been worst hit. Rescue teams have been working around the clock to seal bank breaches and strengthen dykes.<\/span><\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o <\/strong><\/p>\n

In March, authorities issued a flood warning to people in the middle and lower Yangtze River Delta in advance of El Ni\u00f1o, an annual weather phenomenon resulting from currents in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o occurs when water in the Pacific warms up around the equator. When temperatures climb to 0.5C or more for six months it is classed as an El Ni\u00f1o event (however, each country has a different threshold for what constitutes an event).<\/p>\n

The 1997-1998 El Ni\u00f1o caused US$35 billion of damage and 23,000 deaths across the globe. Meterologists predict that this year\u2019s El Ni\u00f1o could exact a heavy toll.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is Wuhan so badly affected?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Red flood alerts have been issued all along the Yangtze however Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and home to an enormous trading port, appears to be worst hit.<\/p>\n

In 2011 Zuo Shaobin, head of the city\u2019s water authorities, made a commitment to upgrade the city\u2019s drainage system, promising to invest 13 billion yuan into a comprehensive, high-capacity drainage system.<\/p>\n

In the wake of Wuhan\u2019s recent devastation the public are demanding to know how that money has been spent.<\/p>\n

On July 6, the city\u2019s flood command centre held a press conference<\/a>, at which a drainage official explained that Wuhan is low-lying and built on drained marsh land. Others highlighted that the water levels in the Yangtze and Hanshui Rivers are higher than the city streets, meaning there is nowhere for rain falling on the city to go.<\/p>\n

But topographical conditions do not mask the fact that the city has suffered from a lack of planning and investment in defence infrastructure. One urban climatologist who preferred not to be named told <\/span>chinadialogue that: \u201cConstruction has reduced the city\u2019s ability to absorb water; and lakes have been filled in, leading to more waterlogging.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a <\/span>report from the Beijing News<\/a>, the city\u2019s lake area has shrunk by a third over the last 20 years due to rapid urbanisation and land reclamation projects by property developers. This has greatly reduced the city\u2019s ability to absorb floodwater.<\/p>\n

But it is the residents who are suffering the most. Wang Bing of the Yangtze Rescue Volunteers said: \u201cThe rain is part of the reason but it\u2019s mainly down to how the city\u2019s been designed. It\u2019s expanded so quickly they\u2019ve only worried about what\u2019s on the surface, not what\u2019s underneath. It\u2019s short-sighted!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The city\u2019s water authorities admitted that design standards were too low and unable to cope with rain and flooding on this scale.<\/p>\n

Three Gorges Dam<\/strong><\/p>\n

The downpour has triggered a round of debate over the efficacy of the Three Gorges Dam<\/a> in preventing floods. The Yangtze River Commission<\/a> has warned people not to \u201cput all their hopes in the Three Gorges Dam<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xiong Wei, of the Sun Yat-Sen University\u2019s School of Sociology and Anthropology, grew up in Wuhan and remembers from his earlier years the prevalent notion that with the advent of the dam there would be no need for further flood prevention measures. And yet, since its completion local continue to repair dykes every summer Monsoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if the dam did start holding back more water, the benefits downstream at Wuhan would be limited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds have been killed and many tens of thousands more displaced by this year\u2019s rainfall. Victims blame poor flood defences, reports Feng Hao<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2265,"featured_media":58831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"country":[],"class_list":["post-34083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSouth China faces worst floods in decades | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hundreds have been killed and many tens of thousands more displaced by this year\u2019s rainfall. 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