On July 2, a citizen in Hefei posted a video showing that Yulan Yuan in Yao Hai District of the city was inundated by backflowing river water late at night. The water level on the first floor reached above adult chest level, affecting over twenty buildings in the neighborhood. Property owners suffered heavy losses as the affected area experienced water and power cuts.
According to mainland media reports, a trapped resident named Mrs. Zhang mentioned that their neighborhood is located by a river. On the evening of July 1, the river water flowed into the neighborhood, submerging the first floor with water levels surpassing adult chest height. With the floodwater too massive, the doors and windows of first-floor houses could not be opened. It rained heavily throughout the night on July 1.
Mrs. Zhang said she lives on the 4th floor and her home was not flooded, but they faced water and power cuts.
Around 1 a.m. on the 2nd, the water levels from the Twenty Steps River adjacent to the neighborhood rose and flooded into the compound. By around 2 a.m., the water level had reached 1.5 meters, submerging the entire Yulan Yuan complex. As the neighborhood lacked an underground parking lot, vehicles parked on the road, including cars and electric bikes, were all submerged.
Mrs. Zhang estimated that one of her electric bikes was likely to be declared a total loss.
In a video clip, a resident expressed that everything in their home was about to be submerged.
A netizen in Hefei, known as “Moonlight,” mentioned severe flooding in their neighborhood, with water flooding the ground floor.
The Anhui Meteorological Bureau announced that from 8:00 on July 1 to 5:00 on July 2, 1318 stations in the province recorded rainfall exceeding 50 millimeters (covering 30.2% of the area), with an average precipitation of 77.5 millimeters in Hefei city.
Hefei has been experiencing heavy rainfall recently. In a report by Anhui’s Da Wan News, a woman named Wang in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Hefei noticed a rapid rise in the water level of the detention pond near the neighborhood on the afternoon of the 1st, with the water quality contrasting sharply with the usual calm scene. Worried, she urgently contacted the property management to inquire about the necessity of moving vehicles parked underground to prevent potential risks.