Torrential rain hammered southern China’s Sichuan province over the weekend after several weeks of drought causing the region’s landscape to suffer flash flooding that forced the evacuation of nearly 50,000 people as of Sunday, China’s state-run Global Times reported.
“Heavy rain has hit seven cities and prefectures in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province since Saturday [August 27], including Chengdu, Guangyuan and Garze Tibetan Autonomous prefecture, forcing 46,400 people to evacuate overnight,” the newspaper reported on August 28.
Sichuan and most other southern Chinese provinces had suffered from a record-breaking heatwave since mid-June that caused region-wide drought conditions in recent weeks. Heavy rains following droughts have a propensity to cause flash flooding as the soil in a drought-affected region hardens during the dry spell and becomes less capable of absorbing rainwater.
“A drought hardens the ground. When it rains, it’s like pouring water on concrete,” U.S. Meteorologist Justin Ballard explained to the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN) on August 12.
The Global Times acknowledged the link between Sichuan’s recent drought and its current flooding on Sunday.
“[C]ontinued high temperatures have increased the risk of natural disasters in parts of Sichuan, where drought in the province has made the soil loose or caused it to harden, and short-term heavy rainfall could potentially cause mudslides and other extreme natural disasters,” the newspaper reported citing local meteorological authorities.
Sichuan’s rapid rainfall began on August 27 and was expected to last through at least August 30.
“The torrential rain of Monday [August 29] and Tuesday [August 30] is forecast to hit the eastern and southwestern parts of the Sichuan Basin and western and northern Chongqing,” Reuters noted.
Sichuan’s government ordered an “emergency flood-prevention response” for the entire province, including the populous municipality of Chongqing (which is surrounded by Sichuan province but separately administered), on the evening of August 28. The notice included directives for government officials to evacuate residents in vulnerable locales if necessary.
“Moreover, authorities in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, has also issued three-level warning of geological disasters late on Sunday, reminding local authorities and residents to strengthen natural disaster prevention [sic],” the Global Times relayed.
Sichuan’s issuing of a geological disaster warning on August 28 suggested that local authorities expected a moderate to high risk of landslides or floods in the province, though “no major natural disasters have occurred so far,” an employee of Sichuan’s provincial emergency management department told the Global Times.
The unnamed staff member revealed that many of Sichuan’s 46,400 flood evacuees were “living in temporary shelters built by the government” while some had “taken refuge with relatives and friends” as of Sunday.