Heavy Rains Trigger Devastating Floods, City Paralysed – Death Toll Mounts
Heavy Rains Trigger Devastating Floods, City Paralysed – Death Toll Mounts
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The heavy rainfall that drenched southern and central China triggered widespread floods in several provinces on Tuesday (19 May 2026), killing at least 10 people and disrupting daily life. Schools and business centres were closed, transportation services disrupted, while electricity supplies in some affected areas also experienced outages.
Chinese authorities said the extreme rainfall across a wide area has prompted emergency responses across multiple regions, amid threats of landslides, flash floods, and urban inundation.
The China Meteorological Administration said Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan were at high disaster risk related to rainfall.
The extreme weather created chaotic scenes in several cities. In Jingzhou, a city in central Hubei Province, residents were seen wading through knee-deep flooding. In videos circulating on Douyin, some residents were even seen catching fish swimming in the city streets.
Several vehicles were nearly entirely submerged on roads surrounded by residential and commercial buildings. The death toll continued to rise due to the worsening weather.
State media CCTV, cited by Reuters, reported at least six deaths after a pickup carrying 15 passengers plunged into a swollen river in Guangxi, southwest China, as heavy rain battered the region.
In a separate incident, three people were reported killed by a flash flood that struck a low-lying village in Hubei Province.
Meanwhile, another death was reported from southern Hunan Province.
Due to the deteriorating situation, schools, business centres, and transport services in several areas were temporarily halted.
State media also reported that authorities have begun evacuating residents from some high-risk areas in Hubei and Hunan to avoid greater casualties. Heavy rain expected to move southeast towards the Yangtze River
Chinese meteorology experts explained that this round of heavy rain covered a very wide area, extending more than 1,000 kilometres.
The phenomenon was triggered by the meeting of moist air masses from the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. The slow-moving weather system also caused very high rainfall accumulation.
The China National Meteorological Centre said the extreme weather is forecast to move east and south over the next two days.
From Wednesday, the heaviest rain is expected to drench the middle and downstream Yangtze River, one of the most densely populated and economically important areas in China.
On Hainan Island, local authorities issued a geological disaster warning on Tuesday after a landslide on Mount Lingshui blocked a highway. Authorities subsequently closed several major roads in the area for public safety.