theo reutersThe storm clouds slowly moved from the Guangdong coast toward the Guangxi region, causing flooding in low-lying areas and heavy rainfall.
In Bach Bach district of Guangxi province, rescue forces used boats to bring people to safety from the evening of 10 September. There are places where the water is up to 2 meters deep. Heavy rain is expected to continue in Guangxi in the next few days.
Although Haikui weakened after making landfall in Fujian province on September 5, its spread still strongly affected southern China. The densely populated city of Shenzhen was inundated with the heaviest rainfall since 1952. Hong Kong (China) also faced its worst rainfall in the last 140 years.
On September 9, heavy rains caused flooding in China’s Guangdong province. Photo: Reuters
Scientists have warned that storms hitting China are becoming more intense and their paths are becoming more complex, increasing the risk of disaster. Even coastal cities like Shenzhen, which regularly face tropical storms and already have strong flood protections, are vulnerable.
Rescue workers evacuate people in Fujian province during Typhoon Haikui on September 5. Photo: Reuters
Dr Sun Shao, a climatologist at the University of California, Irvine, said: “Storms moving inland affect areas exposed to heavy rain and strong winds. “These places often have less capacity to recover from disasters, leading to more severe damage.”
Mr Sun said that in the case of Shenzhen, the disaster was mainly caused by the slow westward propagation of Typhoon Haikui from the afternoon of September 7 to the morning of September 8, which led to a “train effect” – the cumulative effect of which Impact Multiple cloud systems are continuously passing through an area, increasing the chance of heavy or extremely heavy rainfall.
