A day after a landslide caused by downpours claimed eight lives in central Hunan province, authorities warned on Monday that heavy rains are forecast to pound large portions of China in the coming days.
The National Meteorological Center (NMC) said that numerous provinces in the country’s central, eastern, and southern regions would see nonstop, intense rain until Thursday.
Along with the forecast, the NMC issued a red alert, its strongest warning, indicating that until 2:00 PM on Tuesday, 0700 GMT, “extremely heavy rains” could occur in several areas of the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang.
The NMC stated that 250–270 mm of rain could fall in these places.
Following days of persistent rain in Huangshan, a popular tourist city in eastern Anhui province, more than 54,000 people had been evacuated by mid-afternoon on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua reported.
According to Xinhua, the region’s current bout of intense rains started on June 18 and resulted in the closure of numerous attractions.
In recent months, China has seen exceptionally high temperatures together with severe weather.
Extreme weather events are becoming more common and powerful due to climate change caused by greenhouse gases released by humans, with China being the world’s largest emitter.
Rainfall last week caused flooding and landslides in the heavily populated southern province of Guangdong, killing at least 38 people, according to official media on Friday.
On Sunday, heavy rain in mountainous Hunan province led to the deaths of eight people after an early morning landslide caused four houses to collapse in a village, state media reported.
