China issues ‘once in a century’ flood warning for Guangdong’s Bei River zone
- Waters in Pearl River tributary expected to peak at 1am on Monday after days of torrential rain
- Capital Guangzhou and cities of Qingyuan, Shaoguan and Huizhou among the hardest-hit areas
Residents in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong are on high alert for flooding, with authorities forecasting water flows in a major river to hit “once-in-100-year” levels on Monday morning.
The provincial flood and disaster prevention department said on Sunday afternoon that floodwaters in the Bei River, a southern tributary of the Pearl River, were expected to peak at 37.3 metres (122 feet) by 1am, or about 5.8 metres above the warning line.
Warning levels had already been exceeded at 20 monitoring stations along the waterway by Saturday evening.
Northern and western Guangdong have been battered by intense rainstorms since Friday, breaking rainfall records for April in many places.
The cities of Qingyuan, Shaoguan, Huizhou and capital Guangzhou have been particularly hard hit, prompting flood alerts and rainstorm warnings for three days in a row.
According to the National Meteorological Centre, most of the affected areas have reported 200-350mm (7.9-13.8 inches) of rain since the start of the month.