The Yangtze River’s flood peak No. 3 has just passed downstream last week, but floodwaters have yet to recede in many areas. The Zhejiang Province was hit heavily by Typhoon Hagupit on August 4th. According to the China Meteorological Observatory, At 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 4, Hagupit landed at Yueqing city in Zhejiang province, with winds of up to magnitude 13, affecting 54 local towns and villages and causing power outages to 830,000 homes. It was the fourth typhoon to hit China this year.
People posted videos showing extreme strong winds and heavy rain continuing until the morning of the 4th. In Taizhou city, a large number of trees have been uprooted, blocking roads. Window panes were blown down and washing machines on balconies and even the balconies themselves were blown off to the streets. The roads were heavily flooded, with many cars soaked in water. There were also people trapped on cranes, unable to come down in the stormy weather.
According to media reports in China, a resident who tried to close her window during the typhoon was blown away by strong winds and fell 11 stories to her death. In Yongkang City, mudslides swept away passersby and cars, a parking lot full of new cars was submerged in water. A factory short-circuited and burst into flames. Floodwaters also flowed into the chemical plant, where employees were soaking in water from floating chemical containers, trying to keep them from drifting out of the plant. Fifteen sections of highways in Zhejiang were closed as a result of the typhoon. In addition, the local meteorological station predicted possible flash flooding on August 5 and issued a red flash flood highest warning. Shanghai, next to Zhejiang province, has also been affected by heavy rainfall, with all outdoor activities and 572 flights at the two major airports canceled.
Earlier on July 26 and 28th, parts in Beijing experienced rare snowfall in the middle of summer. Temperature was at 25-30°C on the afternoon of the 28th but people were confusedly running in the snow wearing short sleeves, and many discussions circulated online. This is because in Chinese traditional culture, snow in midsummer means innocent were killed or persecuted, and it reminds people of those who lost their lives and property as a result of the mass Yangtze River floods and the virus outbreak. However, the Chinese authorities did not acknowledge the snow that day and called it a “light hail”, and claimed to be a natural phenomenon.
At the same time Hagupit hit Zhejiang, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning province, Xinjiang and other places in northwestern China from August 2 to August 3 received a heavy number of hail, some as big as the size of an egg, which damaged many cars and buildings, in Xinjiang Yili region, hail mixed with mudslides damaged mass areas. In Jilin city, on August 3, the sudden rain-and-hail storm peeled off the outer wall of buildings and struck many cars parked underneath. In some areas, the floodwater remained at high level and many cars were still under water until the next day. Areas in Liaoning, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan also saw thunderstorms with wind or hail of magnitude 8 to 10. This is very unusual for a midsummer day.
When the No.3 flood peak of Yangtze River passed downstream on July 22, the Anhui Provincial Hydrographic Bureau continued to issue a Red Flood Alert. The entire Huaihe River water level exceeded the alert level and the Wangjiaba dam in Anhui Province opened its floodgates at a maximum rate of 1800m3/s, pouring flood waters into the Mengkong area, turning the place with 170,000 residents into a lake, causing hundreds of thousands of people to lose their homes. The latest footage shows that to this day, the floodwaters have not receded, but instead the sediments have settled, which indicates the water body is stabilizing and a new lake has formed.
In Enshi city, Hubei Province, where the Three Gorges Dam is located, as the flood receded, the roads are filled with cars that have been turned into scrap metal, the streets are in a complete mess, people are unable to leave their homes, and the water has been contaminated by the flood, resulting in a water and food crisis. A video on the internet shows that the government is actually using a fecal sucking truck to deliver water to people, causing public discontent and reminding people that during the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak, the government also used garbage trucks to deliver supplies to residents in Wuhan.
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