Severe rainfall hit Shimen County, Changde City, Hunan Province since Sunday, May 17. On Monday, May 18, towns like Hupingshan in Shimen County experienced rainfall exceeding historical records. Currently, many villages in the county have roads completely collapsed, leading to power outages and loss of communication.
Official reports on May 20 stated that Shimen County has seen 5 deaths and 11 missing persons. However, local residents told a reporter from Da Ji Yuan that the actual number of casualties is much higher than the official figures, describing the situation as very tragic.
From 7:00 am on May 17 to 7:00 am on May 18, Shimen County witnessed extreme heavy rainfall with a total accumulation of 339.2 millimeters. From midnight to 6:00 am on the 18th, Hupingshan Town received 240.6 millimeters of rain, breaking historical records. Following the heavy rainfall, flash floods occurred in Hupingshan Town causing severe damage.
On May 18, water levels sharply rose in upstream of the Xie River, exceeding 12.2 meters at one point. Water levels at the Xie River’s Shuanghe and Yanchi stations broke the record since their establishment.
State media Xinhua reported that the heavy rainfall centered around Hupingshan Town, affecting over ten villages and towns in the surrounding areas. Sojiaxiang Township, along the river, with its low-lying terrain, suffered severe damage affecting eight villages along the banks of the Xie River.
Reporters who visited severely affected areas like Hupingshan Town, Sojiaxiang Township, and Nanbei Town in Shimen County witnessed the grim aftermath of the rainfall and floods, highlighting the extremely challenging flood control and disaster relief situation.
A viral video showed a suspension bridge being washed away by flood waters in a matter of seconds, businesses along the street were inundated, and trees destroyed by the rushing water. Once the water levels receded, damaged houses of residents became visible.
On the morning of Wednesday, May 20, the Shimen County Emergency and Production Safety Committee announced that 23 towns and areas in the county were affected to varying degrees, with a population of 103,247 people experiencing the disaster, resulting in 5 deaths and 11 missing persons. Emergency rescue operations are ongoing.
A resident of Shimen County named Chen Li (pseudonym) informed Da Ji Yuan, “Many people are considered missing, many people. Now the official reports say only 5 deaths and 11 missing, but it is definitely more than that. It’s really tragic, the entire village is flooded. Many people were directly swept away, how can there be only 5 deaths?”
Chen mentioned that due to the natural disaster, human errors were also exposed. He questioned why authorities didn’t evacuate people despite having enough time before the extreme rainfall on May 17 and the historic rainfall on May 18. “Hupingshan Town was flooded overnight, how could these people not be affected?”
Friends informed Chen that the main reason was that the Zhangjiadu hydroelectric power station did not release floodwaters in order to peak power generation. Hupingshan Town was flooded overnight, and the flood was released only around 5 am, resulting in the flooding of Sojiaxiang Township too.
Chen criticized the lack of thorough pre-disaster inspections, inadequate monitoring and warning devices, and the obstruction in river channels. He emphasized, “The sudden rise of water levels to 8-12 meters clearly indicates the river channels are blocked due to insufficient dredging.”
Chen mentioned that in mountainous regions like Shimen County, the Jinhe Village in Nanbei Town, lost contact with at least 8 people or more. He said, “Today in Yangjiaping Village, a female corpse was recovered, already confirmed as a villager. Many houses were destroyed and several people missing in Jinhe Village, Nanbei Town. Many villages are completely cut off from water, electricity, and communication, leaving residents without essential supplies.”
He continued, “Roads have completely collapsed, the only access road to the villages has several landslides, making it impossible for rescue vehicles and supplies to enter. The disaster-stricken areas lack emergency supplies, people in the mountainous regions are in dire straits, flooded up to several meters, flooded on the first and second floors, it’s terrifying.”
Media coverage further confirmed the dire situation in Shimen County.
On the afternoon of May 20, a resident of Jinhe Village, Nanbei Town, Shimen County, Mr. Wang, told Red Star News about his elderly parents and uncle who were swept away in the floods that destroyed their home in the Red Yao district of Jinhe Village, a valley area. Mr. Wang rushed to the scene from work in Guangdong and sadly found his mother’s body in the neighboring Hupingshan Town area before taking her remains to his brother’s home in Sojiaxiang Township for funeral arrangements. Apart from his parents, several neighbors were also missing.
According to Jimo News on May 20, a reporter visited Hupingshan Town in Shimen County and witnessed severe damage to two businesses at both ends of the Jiexi Bridge spanning the Xie River.
One shop had the first-floor windows blown out, filled with branches and debris, with the walls peeled off and soaked in black water stains. The owner, Ms. Tan, tearfully described clearing goods in the basement when water started flooding in up to more than a meter in a matter of minutes, almost reaching her chest before she barely managed to escape.
At the other end near the Jiezi shop, a pavilion-style shop with a cracked roof and shattered windows was filled with broken wood. The shop owner, also a Ms. Tan, recounted the night of the disaster when she was awakened by water sounds, seeing water below the bridge; within minutes, water had risen to the ceiling, forcing her and her husband to flee to higher ground.
She thanked her stars for sending her elderly mother to relatives a few days prior, preventing a tragedy, “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made it since she can’t run due to her old age.”
Ya Ya (pseudonym) hails from the Zhongling Community in Hupingshan Town. On the afternoon of May 19, she told Cover News that she couldn’t contact her family, as their home was cut off from power, water, and communication, and the roads were impassable. Another resident, now outside Shimen County, also expressed concern about the communication breakdown in the Zhongling Community, unable to reach family.
On the afternoon of May 19, staff from the Shimen County Emergency Management Bureau informed the media that due to road damage, power outages, and communication disruptions, several villages in Hupingshan Town remain isolated. Rescue teams were unable to reach these villages, but efforts were underway to repair roads and restore communication.
They mentioned that Hupingshan Town, being a mountainous area, is prone to landslides after heavy rainfall, which overwhelmed communication and power facilities extensively.
Staff from the Blue Sky Rescue Team in Shimen County also informed the media that many parts of Hupingshan Town were without power and communication, with major landslides restricting ingress and egress for residents.