2026 Southern China Floods

Overview

Beginning in mid-April 2026, an extreme and prolonged rainfall event struck southern China, with precipitation records broken across multiple provinces. On April 27, Qinzhou in Guangxi received 538 mm (21.1 inches) of rain in just 12 hours — the highest single-day April rainfall ever recorded at the station — with peak 1-hour intensity reaching 147.7 mm (5.8 inches). The deluge turned city streets into fast-moving channels, submerging vehicles and trapping residents in their homes. Fire departments deployed 25 trucks and 150 firefighters with inflatable rescue boats to evacuate stranded residents. In Guangdong Province alone, an estimated 110,000 people were forced to evacuate as cities including Shaoguan, Qingyuan, Zhaoqing, and Jiangmen were half-submerged. Jiangxi and Hunan provinces faced rising river levels and increasing pressure on reservoirs as sustained rainfall fed into major water systems. China's Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Emergency Management coordinated flood control and disaster relief efforts across the affected southern regions, issuing urgent travel advisories ahead of the May Day holiday period. The Red Cross Red Crescent network mobilized rescue and relief operations as the flooding continued to spread.