Six people have died due to severe flooding in Guizhou province.

Mainland authorities said Rongjiang county has been hit by flooding not seen in half a century since Tuesday, inundating many low-lying areas and causing significant damage to infrastructure in several townships. That resulted in blocked roads, disrupted communications and stranded residents.

Meanwhile, towns and villages by a major river in Guangxi lay half-submerged as floodwaters from upstream roared into the mountainous region, with the expected landfall of a tropical cyclone later on Thursday compounding disaster risk.

Rural settlements in Guangxi by the banks of the Liu river, which originates from Guizhou, are among the areas affected.

The Guangxi township of Meilin was the worst-hit, with floodwaters at their peak more than four metres above what was considered safe.

Even as floodwaters passed and dangerous surface run-off began to recede, southwestern China – from Guizhou and Guangxi to Chongqing, Yunnan and Sichuan – remained on high alert for secondary disasters such as road collapses, landslides and hydro-dam overflows.

"Rural areas face significant challenges due to limited infrastructure and resources," said Chen Xiaoguang, professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu.

"Strengthening these systems in rural counties will be key to reducing the long-term impact of increasingly severe weather."

On Tuesday, the Guizhou city of Rongjiang, located at the confluence of three rivers, was hit by a flood on a scale that meteorologists said could only happen once in 50 years, and at a speed that shocked its 300,000 residents.

The flow rate of one section of the Liu river in Rongjiang surged to 11,800 cubic metres per second, the equivalent of nearly five Olympic-sized swimming pools. That was more than 80 times the average rate of flow.

As deluge-hit areas began to remove silt left behind by the flooding and restore power, telecommunications and water networks, rains from a tropical depression expected to make landfall in Guangxi on Thursday night could affect restoration and cleanup work or even risk a new round of flooding. (Reuters/Xinhua)
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Last updated: 2025-06-26 HKT 15:45