Guangdong activates Level IV flood response as 23,000 evacuated

Guangdong has activated a Level IV emergency disaster relief response as torrential rain and flooding swept the province from Thursday, with more than 23,000 residents evacuated and no casualties reported as of Friday.

In a Friday statement, the Guangdong Provincial Disaster Reduction Commission said prefecture-level cities and relevant provincial departments had been directed to prioritize emergency relief, ensure affected residents were resettled, and distribute relief funds and supplies.

Guangdong entered its annual "dragon boat rain" season — the colloquial name for the province's early summer rainy period — on Thursday, water conservancy authorities said.

The most severe flooding has centered on the Moyang River in Yangjiang city. At 11 pm Thursday, the Guangdong Hydrological Bureau issued an orange flood warning, the second most severe in the country's four-tier system, for the Jiangcheng section of the river. By Friday morning, the station recorded a flood peak discharge of approximately 4,000 cubic meters per second, with the peak water level hitting around 7 meters.

The bureau said the flooding on the Moyang River had exceeded the 20-year return period level and warned that above-warning water levels would persist until Sunday. Residents and authorities located in the lower reaches of the Moyang River, as well as those along the Ma'nan and Xilai rivers were urged to take precautionary measures and evacuate where necessary.