Heavy rainstorms have struck Taoyuan County in Changde City and Cili County in Zhangjiajie City in Hunan Province since the evening of May 21st. The downpour has caused multiple rivers to swell and some roads to be flooded. By 6:38 am on the 22nd, the Hunan Provincial Meteorological Observatory upgraded the rainstorm warning signal to orange.
According to reports from Daxiang News on the 23rd, the heavy rain has caused severe flooding in Jinyan Tujia Township of Cili County in Zhangjiajie City. Some roads have been submerged, and floodwaters have flowed through the first floors of residents’ homes. Netizens have claimed that farmers have suffered heavy losses in agricultural production.
One netizen shared a video showing water entering the homes of residents living on the second floor in a residential area in Zhangjiajie City.
The continuous heavy rainfall has also triggered flash floods in Shejiaping Town of Taoyuan County in Changde City on the morning of the 22nd. In the afternoon of the 22nd, a villager named Mr. Sun (pseudonym) from Shejiaping Town told Jiupai News that when the water rose at 9 am, he was still in a deep sleep until his grandmother woke him up by shouting, “There’s flooding!” He hastily moved his car to the higher ground near the kindergarten in town before rushing back home to mitigate the risks.
“I am around 1.7 meters tall, and the water level reached near my chest. Many cars in the parking lot were submerged, and the bed of a household was washed away and turned into a pile of debris,” he said. Sun mentioned that there was a market in Shejiaping Town that day, and the fruits and vegetables in the farmers’ market were all washed away. “Someone across the street used a fishing net to catch about half a basket,” he added.
Upon inspecting the main street in town, Sun found that the goods in a supermarket and pharmacy were all flooded, with the warehouse goods of the supermarket not spared. The two owners estimated economic losses of tens of thousands of yuan each. Additionally, a store in town that was in the business of self-brewed alcohol had almost all its wine jars swept away, leaving the streets littered with broken pieces of jars after the water receded.
“Currently, the town is without power, and many trailers have come to pump out the water. Every household is using mops and brooms to clean up their belongings,” Sun explained.
In the afternoon of the 22nd, a villager in Guanyinsi Town of Taoyuan County told Jímù News that the river less than one kilometer from his home had risen, causing the flood to reach his doorstep and inundate the road leading to his house, forcing him to use the back door for movement.
Another resident in the town mentioned that there were stagnant waters in many parts of the street, with water entering the first floors of some residents’ homes, hindering accessibility in certain areas.
A shop owner in Guanyinsi Town tearfully filmed a video expressing that all the furniture in the store had been submerged, and years of savings were lost in the flood.
On the 23rd, a netizen from Taoyuan uploaded a video stating that the floodwaters had finally receded, but the situation has worsened for those who were already struggling financially. The rice fields are filled with mud, and the corn in the cornfields has been completely submerged, leading to an estimated loss of this year’s harvest.
Furthermore, due to the influence of upstream water, the water levels in rivers in Qijiaping Town of Yuanling County in Huaihua City rose, causing road submersion and temporary disruptions in transportation, communication, and power supply.
According to the latest forecast, there is still heavy rain expected in some areas north of Xiangjiang on the 23rd. Zhangjiajie, Changde, Yueyang, Changsha, and Zhuzhou will experience heavy rain with short periods of intense precipitation, thunderstorms, and strong convective weather, posing risks of flash floods, geological disasters, and urban flooding.