Rescuers on boats in China's flood-hit Guangdong province raced to evacuate trapped residents, carrying some elderly people by piggyback from their homes and deploying helicopters to save villagers caught in landslides.

Guangdong Province

Rescuers in China's Guangdong province are undertaking significant efforts to evacuate residents trapped by unexpected severe floods, utilizing boats to transport people, including carrying elderly individuals by piggyback, from their inundated homes. The extreme weather conditions have prompted the use of helicopters for rescuing villagers caught in resulting landslides. 

Guangdong, known for its dense population and status as a manufacturing hub within the Pearl River Delta, is no stranger to summer flooding. Despite historically strong flood defences, the province has experienced unprecedented rainfall since last Thursday, marking the onset of the wet season much earlier than usual. This has sparked concerns over the adequacy of current flood defence measures in the face of increasing weather unpredictability and extremity, likely exacerbated by global warming.

So far, there have been no reports of fatalities, although several people are missing. The heavy rainfall has also impacted transportation, with domestic flights to Guangzhou being temporarily canceled and international flights experiencing delays. Some international flights to other Chinese destinations have had to reroute significantly to avoid the affected area. 

Adjacent to Guangdong, the Guangxi region has also been severely affected by the rain, with nearly 100,000 people impacted and direct economic losses estimated at nearly 285 million yuan, equivalent to almost $40 million.



Many trapped by unseasonal floods in China

China's Guangdong province faces severe floods. Rescuers on boats rushed to evacuate residents on Monday, carrying some elderly people on their backs. Helicopters were deployed to save villagers who were caught in landslides. Ling Zui Zhen lives in Qingyan City. LING ZUI ZHEN, Rescuer Translator, Guangdong Province, China Since two years ago, the rainfall started to get relatively heavy, and this year. In the past, the floods rarely rose to this point. At least the floods got drained. Situated in the densely populated Pearl River Delta, the province once coined the factory floor of the world, Guangdong is prone to summer floods, and has previously put in place strong defences to limit the effects. But since Thursday, the region has been battered by record-breaking rainfall, bringing the wet season earlier than expected. That's raising concern that flood defences are becoming inadequate as global warming makes weather events more unpredictable and more extreme. No fatalities have yet been reported, but a number of people are missing. On Sunday, domestic flights arriving in Guangzhou were briefly cancelled, and international ones delayed. Some foreign carriers flying to other Chinese destinations took big detours to avoid the area. Just in Guangxi, a region west of Guangdong, nearly 100,000 people have been affected by the rain, with direct economic losses totalling nearly 285 million yuan, or almost $40 million.

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