On the afternoon of August 4th, Wuzhou City, Guangxi Province was hit by a heavy rainstorm in which a white car got stuck in the water and caught fire. As water levels rose, a man bravely waded through the rushing water, smashing the car window with a hammer to rescue three people inside.
A video circulating online shows the white car trapped in the water, with a man straddling on top of it. With one foot on a larger vehicle and the other on the small car, he shattered the window with a hammer to pull the people out. Several others in the background then helped move the car’s occupants to safety.
The hero who broke the window posted online that it was the first time he had ever seen such heavy rain. The downpour had started around 5:30 pm and within half an hour, the water level rose to nearly one meter high. It was rush hour, and his colleagues at the inspection station were all stranded and unable to leave.
On August 5th, the hero, Mr. Wu, an employee of the Xintong Motor Vehicle Inspection Station in Tengxian County, recounted the events to the local news. He mentioned that due to the heavy rain on August 4th, many vehicles were stuck on the road and unable to move. While filming the rain with his mobile phone, a colleague informed him of the trapped individuals inside the white car ahead. Wu and his colleague rushed to assess the situation, finding three people inside the car. Wu grabbed a hammer to break the window. Concerned that the swift water might wash away the car, Wu’s colleague, Xiao Li, brought a larger vehicle to block the water flow, allowing Wu to start breaking the window to save the trapped occupants.
Despite feeling afraid due to the strong currents and inability to swim, Wu was determined to save the people inside the car. He recalled, “I cannot swim, and seeing the fast-flowing water made me very scared, but I had to save the people, so I didn’t care.”
After the occupants were rescued, they were unharmed, and the white car was later towed away by a rescue vehicle.
According to meteorological predictions, from August 4th to 7th, most parts of Guangxi will experience heavy to torrential rain, with some areas facing severe rainstorms. Significant increases in water levels in the rivers of eastern and southern Guangxi are expected, and some small to medium-sized rivers may experience flooding exceeding warning levels.
At 6 pm on August 4th, the Autonomous Region Flood Control and Drought Relief Command activated a level four emergency response for flood prevention. The next three days in Guangxi are expected to be marked by frequent rainfall. On August 5th, central and southern Guangxi will see heavy to torrential rains, with some areas experiencing severe storms accompanied by short-lived thunderstorms and strong winds. The heavy rainfall may lead to urban flooding, river floods, landslides, and other disasters. Currently, multiple cities including Nanning, Beihai, Qinzhou, and Fangchenggang have raised their rainstorm alerts to red.