The 2008 South China floods began on 26 May 2008. Four rounds of torrential rains with landslides and flooding lasted for 20 days and affected fifteen provinces in

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

and

Southern China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

. The first round of floods affected twelve provinces in South China and killed 93 people as of 30 May. A new round of floods began on 6 June and swept nine provinces in southern China killing 55 people with 7 missing and forcing 1.3 million to evacuate as of 14 June. China's National Meteorological Centre has said that heavy rain would continue and that precipitation in the provinces of

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

and

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

would be 30 to 70% greater than in the same period last year.

Mainland China

Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

affected include

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

and

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

.SCMP.
South China morning post
" ''Blocked airport highway a black mark for city.'' Retrieved on 15 June 2008.

May

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...

that torrential rains caused by Cloud seeding in the southern provinces killed 64 people in May.Chinadaily.
Chinadaily
" ''Downpours threaten South China.'' Retrieved on 10 June 2008. According to State Flood Control and Drought Relief headquarters, floods have claimed 59 lives up to this point of the year.English hanban.edu.
Hanban.edu
." ''South China expects more heavy rain.'' Retrieved on 14 June 2008.

June

From 28 May to 2 June, some places in

experienced heavy rainfalls. After 7 days, flood situations were investigated by the

China Meteorological Administration The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) is the national weather service of the People's Republic of China. The institution is located in Beijing. History The agency was originally established in December 1949 as the Central Military Comm ...

(CMA) on 3 June. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief headquarters and National Meteorological Centre (NMC) both raised emergency levels expecting more torrential rain and thunderstorms. On the weekend of 7–8 June,

Guangzhou Daily ''Guangzhou Daily'' or Guangzhou Ribao (), also known as ''Canton Daily'', is the official newspaper of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (中共广州市委). Established on December 1, 1952, the newspaper is owned ...

reported it to be the heaviest rain storm in 50 years for Guangdong province.Yahoo.
Yahoo
" ''Worst rainstorms in 50 years hit southeast China.'' Retrieved on 14 June 2008.

Wuzhou Wuzhou (, postal: Wuchow; za, Ngouzcouh / Ŋouƨcouƅ), formerly Ngchow, is a prefecture-level city in the east of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. Geography and climate Wuzhou is located in eastern Guangxi borde ...

was struck with their worst flooding in 100 years. In two days the rainfall in some areas measured more than 400 millimetres (15.7 inches). On 14 June, the

Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of water resources may refer to: * Ministry of Water Resources (Bangladesh) * Ministry of Water Resources (India) * Ministry of Water Resources (Iraq) * Minister of Water Resources (Nigeria) * Ministry of Water Resources (Pakistan) * Minis ...

said close to 1 million hectares of farmland have been affected with the worst hit provinces being

and

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

. From 25 May to 14 June, up to 18 people have died, including 2.22 million people were affected in 17 cities in Guangdong. The average rainfall of was double the long-term level, with the media reporting it as "Freak rain". On 15 June, more than 300 places in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

were submerged underwater. Floods have forced more than 1.66 million people to evacuate, caused 67,000 houses to collapse, and killed 63 people. Three days later officials in Guangdong warned of a "black June" as

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

s, rain and rivers threatened levees. Across the region, 169 were reported killed in the floods. On 21 June, the main precipitation areas include the

Huai River The Huai River (), formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins in China, and like them runs from west to ea ...

valleys,

and the middle and lower reaches of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

. Heavy rain follow in

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, Chongqing,

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

, and

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

. At the end of the month, 252 people were killed in the rainstorms and flooding.Xinhua.
Xinhuanet
" ''Heavy rainstorms ravage China, leaving at least 12 dead and 3 mln affected.'' Retrieved on 9 July 2008.

Hong Kong

June

On 7 June, more than of rain fell on

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands ...

and more than fell on Hong Kong Island.SCMP.
South China morning post
" ''Record Downpour Kills Two and Brings Chaos to Swathe of City.'' Retrieved on 14 June 2008. By noon, almost 40 landslides and 156 floods were reported.SCMP.
South China morning post
" ''Blocked Airport Highway a Black Mark for City.'' Retrieved on 14 June 2008. In

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsi ...

, the 124-year record of rainfall per hour was smashed, with 145.5 mm (5.73 inches) of rainfall being recorded. The

North Lantau Highway North Lantau Highway is an expressway forming part of Hong Kong's Route 8, linking Hong Kong International Airport and Lantau Island with the rest of the territory. The road has three lanes in each direction for its entire length with ful ...

was blocked, for the first and so far the only time since its opening in 1997, by a landslide. Land traffic to the villages of

Tai O Tai O is a fishing town, partly located on an island of the same name, on the western side of Lantau Island in Hong Kong. The village name means ''large inlet'', referring to outlet for the waterways (Tai O Creek and Tai O River) merges as ...

was cut off, forcing the government to increase the frequency of ferries to and from the villages. Newspaper vendors in the streets reported that the water came very fast, flooding the area within five minutes to

thigh In human anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip ( pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb. The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of ...

-deep level (over-the-knee). One of the landslides killed two people in

Tuen Mun Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more ...

. The

Hong Kong Observatory The Hong Kong Observatory is a weather forecast agency of the government of Hong Kong. The Observatory forecasts the weather and issues warnings on weather-related hazards. It also monitors and makes assessments on radiation levels in ...

thus changed the " amber rainstorm" warning to a " black rainstorm" warning.

References

External links

China ViewBBC NewsReuters2008 South China floods

Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' South ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:South China Floods, 2008 Floods in China 2008 disasters in China 2008 floods Natural disasters in Hong Kong Landslides in China Landslides in 2008