The graphics and statistical information on this page fill gradually as they become available, with some not available until the next day. The page is updated every 30 minutes at about 20 and 50 minutes past the hour.

For weather news as it breaks that is tagged and organised, use the links on the Weather and Climate Media Reports page.

Monday 10 July 2017

Widespread flooding, landslides in southern and central China

Heavy rain and the flooding and landslides triggered by it have caused catastrophic losses in southern China from about 20 June to the first week of July. The rain continued a sequence of rain and hail storms that started in May.

The most notable event was a massive landslide in Xinmo village, Sichuan province, 1750km W of Shanghai, on 24 June which killed at least 15 people and left nearly 100 missing [Al Jazeera]. Farther afield, Xinhua News Agency reported on 7 July that in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which borders the north of Vietnam, 20 were dead, 14 missing, around 20,000 houses had collapsed or were damaged, and over 92,000 residents relocated.

Farther north, heavy downpours have hit parts of the Yangtze River basin, and are worst in Hunan province, 900km SW of Shanghai. As at 7 July, Xinhua reported 44 people had died or were missing around Changsha, the provincial capital and a city of over 7 million. There, the Xiangjian River, the Yangtze's second largest tributary by water runoff, reached a record 39.51m on 3 July beating the previous record of 39.18m set by a massive flood in 1998. The Xiangjian joins the Yangtze just downstream of Changsha. Changsha recorded 522.4mm over the 9 days to 1 July, more than its average for the three wettest wet season months of April to June. 292mm of that fell in two days 30 June and 1 July alone.

Changsha's local flood prevention headquarters described the flood as the worst natural disaster in the area in 60 years. In Hunan's Ningxiang County to the west of Changsha, about 815,000 people, some 56% of the county's population, have suffered property losses in the floods, it said. Elsewhere in the Yangtze basin, tens of thousands are battling flooding, with the Chinese government setting aside 1.88 billion yuan ($A363 million) for disaster relief in 20 provinces and regions as at 3 July.

Western media reporting of the catastrophic floods included this item from Associated Press suggesting insufficient warning of the flood was given and that, after the flood, the emergency response was slow. Al Jazeera said that over sixty rivers flooded causing 1.2 million evacuations, 38,000 house collapses and damage to nearly 880,000ha (8,800sq km) of crops. Ten major and 89 smaller tributaries of the Yangtze had risen to record levels. Reuters gave details on the effects of the flooding on Chinese and global markets. ABC News described (with video) a particularly harrowing rescue of a man trapped in rapidly rising floodwaters in Yangshuo County, which is in the badly flooded southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and 470km NW of Hong Kong.

A report from Hong Kong Red Cross on 9 July, quoting figures from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs as at 7 July, gave the following details: number of people affected 11.08 million, deaths 56, missing 22, evacuated 168,800, collapsed houses 27,000, economic loss Yuan RMB 25.27 billion ($A4.88 billion) and the most affected provinces Zhejiang, Auhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan.

Australian weather briefs

• Warm in northern Australia: While southern Australia has continued cold the past few days, the north has been positively tropical with record-breaking warm nights and more rain than you'd expect in the dry season. Friday morning 7 July saw a scattering of new high minimum temperature records set in a line from the Kimberley to the Wide Bay area in QLD as warm, humid air was pulled south in a pair of troughs, bringing cloud and rain. Victoria River Downs in northwestern NT had its warmest July night in 50 years with a low of 24.2° and other records are here.
• Automatic weather station fills vital gap: A new, or rather a replacement, automatic weather station has entered service on the Eyre Peninsula, SA. Located at Point Avoid, 48km W of Port Lincoln in the Coffin Bay National Park, the station replaces one 35km to the north at Coles Point which had been operating since 1991. Fishermen leaving the sheltered waters of Port Lincoln, in particular, will welcome the return of observations from the exposed west coast of the peninsula.