China braces for more deadly floods as 'Plum Rain' sweeps north and west

China’s northern and western provinces are on high alert for flash floods and landslides as intense monsoon rains continue to overwhelm defences, killing at least seven and displacing communities across the country.

Torrential rainfall from the annual ‘Plum Rain’ season has triggered deadly floods in multiple provinces, prompting authorities to issue red alerts as storms track from Sichuan in the southwest through Gansu in the northwest and towards Liaoning in the northeast.

Rescue operations were underway on Thursday in Henan province, where a river burst its banks near the town of Taiping, killing five and leaving three people missing, state media said. More than a 1,000 emergency workers have been deployed to the area.

Two more people died in a landslide at a construction site in Gansu province, where persistent rainfall has saturated soil and increased geological risk. In neighbouring Hebei province, Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing urged officials to pre-emptively evacuate residents during a two-day inspection visit.

Extreme rainfall has become a growing challenge for Chinese authorities. Last year, the ‘Plum Rain’ caused more than $10 billion in economic damage, hitting infrastructure and agriculture. The seasonal downpours coincide with the East Asian monsoon and are linked by scientists to climate change and warming weather patterns.

In Guangxi, in southern China, local media reported several buildings collapsing after their foundations gave way in waterlogged conditions. One video verified by Reuters showed a five-storey building in Xinzhou crumbling into a river.

The Lengshui River, which runs through Xinzhou, experienced its highest flood levels since records began in 2005, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. Nearby in Pingliu Village, 21 people were evacuated on Tuesday after a landslide destroyed two homes and damaged four others.

Although China operates a national severe weather forecasting system, experts say hyperlocal predictions remain difficult—particularly in rural regions where evacuation capacity is limited.

Meanwhile, as flood alerts remain in place across much of the country’s interior, China’s eastern seaboard is forecast to face extreme heat in the coming days, according to the national meteorological centre.

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