Southern China’s Jiangxi Province has issued the highest flood alarm. It is warned that dams can fail and that extreme flooding is possible on several rivers. China has been plagued by floods for weeks, caused by heavy rain.
In Jinagxi, some 5 million people have now been affected by the floods. According to state media, a total of 34 million Chinese have been affected by the storm. At least 121 people are said to have died or gone missing. The storm is moving further east along the Yangtze River.
The Hong Kong newspaper The South China Morning Post made this report about the disaster:
Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, is located in Jiangxi Province. According to the authorities, the water level could exceed the record in 1998. In that year, the worst floods in decades were in China: 4,000 people died and tens of millions were affected by the disaster.
Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus first spread, also suffers from severe weather. Early this week, the city raised the flood alert to the next-highest level.