Recently, both southern and northern China have been hit by extreme weather conditions of droughts and floods. In the south, heavy rain has caused disasters, with severe flooding in Dongguan, Guangdong; while in the north, some areas in Henan have been experiencing drought so severe that the land is too hard to dig even with an iron shovel.
In Guangdong, continuous heavy rain has been hitting the region for several days. In the early morning of August 5th, torrential rain poured down, causing the Dongguan city’s Tangxia Town to be submerged in water. Floodwater overflowed the streets, with swift currents carrying debris rushing through.
Around 9:24 AM, a small car passing through Dongguan’s Tangxia Town encountered loss of control due to flooding, getting stuck in a deep waterlogged area where the water was pouring into the car, trapping the driver inside due to the high water pressure.
A rescuer, Pan Yongbin, who could swim, told the media, “I saw a car out of control when I arrived there. I heard someone shouting for help, so I went down as I can swim.” As the water depth reached near adult neck level at the spot where the car lost control, some residents saw it and urged swimmers to jump in for the rescue. However, due to the high water pressure, the car door could not be opened. Eventually, they managed to pry open the rear trunk together and pull the driver out.
Pan Yongbin mentioned that at that time, the water was close to reaching the car’s roof, and the driver had to press his forehead against the ceiling to keep his nose above the water. “He (the driver) said he couldn’t breathe, and if it had taken a few seconds longer, it might have been a disaster.”
According to the driver, he mistakenly drove into the flooded section while traveling from Shenzhen to Dongguan due to unfamiliar road conditions. After being rescued, the driver was unharmed and stayed behind to handle the vehicle.
Apart from Tangxia Town, netizens reported that Huangjiang, Zhangmutou, and Changping also faced severe flooding, with videos circulating on social media showing the impact of the floods in these areas.
One video revealed that after the heavy rain in Shenzhen, an abundance of tilapia fish appeared on the streets. According to the uploader, the fishponds overflowed due to rain, washing the fish onto the road, which were then collected by cleaners and returned to the ponds. However, the rain continued. The topic “Abundance of tilapia fish on the road after heavy rain in Shenzhen” became a hot search on Weibo on August 6.
On August 5 at 5:33 AM, the Dongguan Meteorological Observatory issued an urgent weather alert for Dongguan: from August 4 day to night, Dongguan experienced heavy rain and locally severe rain, with an average rainfall of 134.2 millimeters across the city. 30 towns exceeded 100 millimeters of rainfall, with 6 of them surpassing 250 millimeters, the highest being 431.7 millimeters in Zhangmutou, followed by 360.9 millimeters in Huangjiang, and the highest hourly rainfall recorded was 127.8 millimeters in Huangjiang. Heavy rain was forecasted to persist throughout the day and night of August 5.
On the morning of August 6 (Wednesday), Guangdong regions including Zhanjiang, Maoming, Yangjiang, Jiangmen, Foshan, Guangzhou, and Qingyuan were once again covered by widespread rainfall echo waves. Northern parts of Guangdong were expected to experience heavy rain and severe rain. By August 7 (Thursday), the intense rainfall was predicted to subside, but as the subtropical high retreats southwards, Guangdong will face high temperatures and sauna-like conditions.
Meanwhile, Henan province has been facing unprecedented high-temperature weather this year since 1961, with Zhumadian, Zhoukou, and Luohe experiencing severe drought conditions, posing challenges to the autumn harvest.
Some farmers have shared videos, stating that they’ve watered their fields four times due to water shortages, with some having to abandon planting peanuts.
A farmer from Zhumadian mentioned that it hadn’t rained for two months in the area, with the land so dry that even an iron shovel couldn’t penetrate it. Elderly villagers have remarked that they’ve never witnessed such conditions, even living to be in their eighties or nineties.
According to Xinhua News Agency, since July, Henan has been enduring continuous high temperatures, with some areas having temperatures exceeding 40°C for several consecutive days.
Reports from various media outlets including China National Radio mentioned that this year, Henan has experienced at least a 70% reduction in precipitation, with 16 areas in the province classified as experiencing severe drought or worse, where at least 3.23 million mu of land couldn’t be cultivated due to drought.
The extreme weather has sparked concerns among the public. Many netizens expressed worry, saying, “Too dry where it’s dry, too wet where it’s wet! The rain in Guangdong is unbelievably heavy.” Some remarked, “Shenzhen is on the verge of flooding with this non-stop rain. Can it please let up a bit?” Others commented, “During a severe drought, the people of Henan are truly struggling,” and “When talking about a drought in Henan, we shouldn’t overlook other areas like northern Anhui, which are only slightly better off. One is ‘severe drought’, and the other is ‘extreme drought’, facing similar difficulties.”
Some netizens emphasized that Henan is a major food-producing province in the country, accounting for nearly 1/10 of the national grain output, with wheat production surpassing a quarter, making it a core region for food production. They urged authorities to address the current drought situation in the region.