Sichuan Ya’an Mudslide Disaster Leaves at Least 14 People Dead

In recent days, Sichuan Province has been experiencing heavy rainfall, leading to geological disasters. In the early morning of July 20th, a mudslide disaster occurred in Xin Hua Village, Malie Township, Hanyuan County, Ya’an City, Sichuan Province. According to official reports, as of 2:30 pm on the 22nd, rescue teams had recovered the bodies of 14 deceased individuals, with 25 people still missing.

Due to the consistent concealment of disaster information by the Chinese Communist Party, the true extent of casualties remains unclear.

Xin Hua Village, where the mudslide disaster took place, is located on a mountainside at an altitude of 1700 to 1800 meters, downstream from Malie Village. After heavy rainfall, the steep mountain terrain acted like a funnel, collecting rainwater into Malie River, creating flash floods that swept through residential and agricultural facilities along the riverbanks.

Meteorological data shows that on that day, Xin Hua Village experienced an hourly rainfall of up to 53.8 millimeters. From 8 pm on July 19th to 8 am on July 20th, the accumulated rainfall reached 107.5 millimeters. Local residents commented that they had never seen such a heavy rainfall in their lifetime.

Qian Deqiang, the owner of a fish farm, told the “China Youth Daily”: Around 1:35 am, as he was finishing his nightly rounds and preparing to return to his room, he saw the floodwaters rushing in like a black mass, roaring thunderously. The flood peak was as high as two people. Qian Deqiang quickly pulled his wife from the room and ran outside. “Just as I stepped out of the door, the flood peak rushed past me, with rocks and wood flying towards me.”

Qian Deqiang ran downstream towards the fish farm, where his parents, friends, and customers were staying in several houses located more than 100 meters away.

Around 1:40 am, when the flood slightly subsided, they rescued their friends from a tilted and twisting house, but his parents and a customer from Guangxi were nowhere to be found.

On July 23rd, the Sichuan Meteorological Observatory issued a yellow warning for heavy rain: from 8 pm on July 23rd to 8 pm on July 24th, Mianyang, Deyang, Chengdu, Meishan, Ya’an, and Leshan, as well as the western part of Guangyuan, may experience heavy to severe rain showers (ranging from 80 to 150 millimeters), with particular areas seeing extremely heavy rainfall (250 to 300 millimeters), and hourly rainfall rates of 50 to 90 millimeters.

Since June of this year, China has entered the flood season. Continuous heavy rainfall has resulted in severe flooding in central and southern China, among other regions, causing significant damage to local residents. From July 13th to 14th, 31 rivers in Anhui, Henan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jilin experienced flooding exceeding warning levels.

On July 17th, a mountain flood occurred in Luonan County, Shaanxi Province, where 8 people were in two cars when they encountered danger, leading to the confirmed deaths of 5 individuals. On July 20th, a netizen posted a video saying that in Zhenba County, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, a public bus was hit by falling rocks while in motion, resulting in multiple injuries.