Heavy rainfall continues in the Qinghai Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County. According to the relevant department, around 4 am on September 4th, heavy rain triggered a landslide in Zhuandao Township of Minhe County, washing away a house and causing at least 3 deaths and 1 injury.
On September 3rd, Qinghai Province experienced its strongest rainfall since the start of the flood season, with several areas in the province issuing red alerts for heavy rain. Monitoring data showed that Datong (57 mm), Menyuan (51.8 mm), and Xining (49.4 mm) all broke local records for September daily rainfall.
Information shared by netizens indicated that due to the heavy rain, national highways and expressways in Qinghai Province were mostly closed. Flooding affected residential buildings and schools in Duolun County; landslides led to the closure of sections of the Cha’er salt lake expressway, and temporary closure of the Cha’er salt lake; severe water logging occurred in parts of Xining City, leading to the suspension of classes for a day in all day schools in the main urban area of Xining, including kindergartens, and temporary suspension of all bus routes from Xining Bus Station. In Minhe County, Qinghai, there was also a landslide incident.
According to local reports, the landslide caused the destruction of a house, resulting in 3 fatalities and 1 injury. A local netizen lamented, “A family of five, father, son, daughter all gone, mother severely injured.” Another netizen mentioned, “Don’t know how many people were at home, but father and two children passed away, and mother is in the hospital.”
Residents of Xining, Qinghai, shared videos showing road collapses in the city affecting both residents and passersby. A nearby shop owner told the media that around 8 am that morning when she was on her way to work, she saw the sidewalk on Minhe Road in front of the Silicon Valley Sunshine Community had collapsed, with a bus half-sunk in the pavement. The collapse area was about the size of a room, with the right rear wheel of the bus hanging in the air. All passengers and the driver were safely evacuated, and no casualties were reported. By the afternoon of the 4th, the site had been fenced off, and the bus removed.
Furthermore, residents in Datong County, Xining, captured images of a section of road covered with rocks that had rolled down due to the heavy rain overnight. Several cars were damaged. The video uploader mentioned that on the morning of the 4th, while driving near the China Petroleum gas station in the southern part of Minhe County, many rocks had rolled down due to the heavy rain from the nearby mountains. Mud on several roads in the county had reached ankle-deep, making driving difficult.
A local shop owner near the affected area mentioned that heavy rainfall began on the 3rd, carrying sand and mud into nearby shops, resulting in closures of businesses on the 4th. Due to the Chinese Communist Party’s tendency to conceal disaster information, there are concerns that the actual impact of the disaster may be more severe.
According to forecasts, Qinghai will continue to experience moderate to heavy rain on September 5th and 6th. On the 5th, Xining, northeastern Haidong, eastern Haixi, Hainan, Haibei, the western part of Yushu, central-northern Guoluo, Chengduo, and western Yushu City will see moderate to heavy rain, while other areas will experience light rain.
On the 6th, areas including Xining, Haidong, Hainan, most of Yushu, central-southern Guoluo, Huangnan, Menyuan, and Haiyan will see light to moderate rain, while other regions will be partly cloudy.
Meteorological authorities have cautioned that continuing rainfall and localized heavy rain may trigger floods in small and medium-sized rivers, flash floods, mudslides, landslides, urban and rural water logging, and other secondary disasters. At the same time, precautions should be taken against short-term heavy rain, thunderstorms, strong winds, hail, and other potential hazards.