The country relies on its network of dams to try to fight against the floods, but record floods have engulfed thousands of homes again this year.
Here are five questions to try to understand the phenomenon.
Are the dams working?
China relies on its dams, dikes and reservoirs to control water.
From June to early August, 30 billion cubic meters were thus contained by dams and reservoirs on the Yangtze, the longest river in Asia (6,300 km), according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. This helped mitigate downstream flooding, particularly in the metropolis of Shanghai (east). But not all infrastructure has been as efficient.
Authorities in the eastern city of Chuzhou were forced to blow up part of a dam in July to release the accumulated water, according to state television CCTV.
In addition, according to the authorities, the giant Three-Gorges dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric power station located in the center of the country, is facing its largest inflow of water this week since it was set up in 2003.
What role does climate change play?
It makes extreme weather events more frequent. The pressure on Chinese dams should therefore increase.
When the atmosphere heats up, it retains more moisture, which makes the showers more intense, Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory in Singapore, told AFP. The levels of 53 rivers hit their all-time highs this summer, according to China’s Ministry of Water Resources. “The floods this summer are a wake-up call for China on climate change,” said Li Shuo, analyst for the environmental NGO Greenpeace.
How to limit the damage?
Urbanization in China for 40 years has exacerbated the problems: more and more land is covered with hard constructions, which contributes to the accumulation of water during rainfall.
In response, the government launched a “sponge cities” campaign in 2014. The principle: replace traditional materials with porous equivalents such as permeable sidewalks, develop more green spaces, drainage areas and reservoirs to prevent water accumulations on the surface.
“The goal is for rainwater to flow into sewers or green spaces and affect built-up areas less,” Cecilia Tortajada, researcher in water policy at the National University of France, told AFP. Singapore.
Who suffers the most from flooding?
Especially the inhabitants of rural areas, which are found near the riverbeds. Many have seen their homes and cultures swallowed up. “While the townspeople of Chinese megalopolises are generally spared by the rising waters, a large part of the hinterland along the Yangtze is in the front line,” said Li Shuo of Greenpeace.
Last week, more than 165,000 hectares of crops were damaged in southwestern Sichuan province, authorities said. Some villages are sometimes sacrificed and their inhabitants evacuated in order to spare more densely populated towns.
What more ?
To limit the human cost, China is also strengthening its flood watch system as well as rapid evacuations of inhabitants. Some localities even use futuristic technologies: agents in the city of Anqing (east) thus use … virtual reality glasses, connected to river surveillance cameras and using 5G, according to New China.
All these measures are having an effect: the number of dead or missing between June and early August as a result of the floods fell to 219. This is only half the annual average of the last five years, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
However, the economic cost is climbing: + 15% in 2020, to 179 billion yuan (22 billion euros), the authorities announced this week.
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