Severe floods strike southern China, affecting multiple regions including Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangxi, and Guangdong. On June 20th, the tourist city of Huangshan in Anhui was hit by heavy rain causing flooding. Houses and vehicles were washed away, many people went missing, and heavy rainfall is expected to continue. Despite this, the flood did not trend on official microblogs.
According to various mainland Chinese media reports today (June 20th), heavy rain in Huangshan caused urban floods. Villagers in Gaojing Village, Shexian County, posted online that many houses were washed away, several people went missing, and the collapse of power lines led to no electricity, internet, or signal in the entire village.
At 11:50 AM on June 20th, the Huangshan Meteorological Observatory in Anhui Province continued to issue a red warning signal for heavy rain. Sixteen townships, including Yudong Street in Tunxi District, experienced over 160 millimeters of rainfall within 6 hours and the rain persisted, resulting in collapsed buildings and vehicles being swept away.
A staff member of a hotel on Tunxi Old Street in Huangshan told Epoch Times reporters on the evening of the 20th, “The streets are flooded, cars have been washed away, and many colleagues couldn’t come to work. I live nearby, so I came.”
She added, “It has been raining heavily these past few days, coupled with flood discharge, causing significant water accumulation. Many shops are flooded, schools are closed, and children are staying home. Travel is difficult, and transportation has been suspended. The rain is expected to continue until early next month.”
A resident of Qimen County told Epoch Times, “I woke up to find the alleys completely flooded, cars submerged, water rising to nearly 2 meters. I heard Tunxi is completely inundated.”
A resident of Shexian County, Anhui, said, “The courtyard is already flooded, the rooms are okay, but low-lying areas are severely affected. Surrounding roads are cut off by water, making it impossible for people to enter, and for us to go out. We don’t know when the water will recede. The river is rising now, started rising today, and we don’t know the situation tomorrow. The road we came on was flooded, and the car couldn’t make it.”
In videos circulated on social media, some residents commented, “It’s the largest flood we’ve seen in over 30 years.”
Currently, the Huizhou scenic area in Huangshan has suspended operations, and several ancient villages including Xixi South, Chengkan, Tangmo, and Pingshan have been affected.
From 8:00 PM on June 18 to 11:00 AM on June 20, 868 monitoring stations in Anhui recorded rainfall exceeding 100 millimeters, with the highest in Yiqi, Huangshan reaching 380.3 millimeters. The rainfall in Huangshan and surrounding areas continues.
Reservoir discharge often leads to sudden flooding. According to reports from CCTV News, the local reservoir in Huangshan, Anhui, saw rapid water level rise from 195 meters to 202 meters on June 19, a 7-meter increase exceeding the flood limit. Starting at noon today, the discharge flow from the Fengle Reservoir was increased to 400 cubic meters per second, with a projected hourly decrease of 0.1 meters in water levels. Officials stated that subsequent adjustments to discharge flow will be made promptly based on rainfall conditions.
Despite the devastation caused by the floods, the situation has not made it to the trending lists on official microblogs. Epoch Times reporters observed that as of around 8:00 PM on June 20 Beijing time, there were no posts related to the flood on Weibo’s trending list. The top post was about Xi Jinping’s speech at the Central Military Commission Political Work Conference in Yan’an a few days ago. The top trend on Baidu was news of Xi Jinping’s inspection of ideological and political work in Qinghai two days prior.
Some netizens criticized the lack of media attention, saying, “Huangshan has experienced such heavy rain that it destroyed the bridge in my hometown, why is there no news coverage?” “This flood is even bigger than the floods during the national college entrance examination 20 years ago, and they have started releasing water from the reservoir.” “Exactly, there is no buzz at all, my home is flooded too.”