Archived
In recent years, China has been grappling with severe flood crises that have displaced millions, caused heavy economic losses, and exposed vulnerabilities in its infrastructure and disaster management systems. The China flood crisis is not just a national emergency—it is a reflection of global climate patterns that are becoming increasingly unpredictable and devastating. With torrential rains now an annual occurrence during the summer monsoon, especially in provinces like Henan, Sichuan, and Guangdong, the nation faces a daunting environmental challenge. This article explores the roots, repercussions, and remedies of China’s ongoing flood dilemma.
[...]
Floods in China are not new; the country has a long history of river-based civilizations, particularly along the Yangtze, Yellow, and Pearl Rivers. However, climate change has intensified the severity and frequency of floods, turning seasonal rains into life-threatening disasters.
[...]
At the start of July 2025, China's north and west is again on alert after sweeping rains trigger deadly floods.
China's north and west braced for more flash floods and landslides on Thursday as annual 'Plum Rains' left a trail of destruction and prompted the mobilisation of thousands of rescue workers to pull people from floodwaters.
Red alerts were issued tracing the rains as they moved from the southwestern province of Sichuan through the northwestern province of Gansu, and up to the northeastern province of Liaoning [...]
Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for policymakers as they threaten to overwhelm ageing flood defences, displace millions and wreak havoc on China's $2.8 trillion agricultural sector.
Economic losses from natural disasters exceeded $10 billion last July, when the 'Plum Rains' - named for their timing coinciding with plums ripening along China's Yangtze River during the East Asia monsoon - typically reach their peak.
[...]
According to Climate Analytics, a global climate science and policy institute engaged around the world in driving and supporting climate action, China not on track for a 1.5°C-aligned pathway to align with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal.
Exactly. No one wants to read that. It's counter-intuitive, and it goes against the prevailing narrative. But the narrative that the media repeats is based on GWP100 accounting, even though we don't have 100 years to address climate change. As Hansen and colleagues pointed out, people are not well-informed, and that's true of the people deciding climate policy as well. Ignorance and denial of the facts will continue to make the situation ever more dire.