Heavy monsoon storms have unleashed nearly a full year’s worth of rainfall in just 24 hours over parts of northern China, triggering severe floods and the evacuation of nearly 20,000 residents. The worst-hit area is Baoding in Hebei province, where intense downpours dumped over 447 millimetres of rain, an amount close to the city's annual average.

According to China’s meteorological authorities, the district of Yi in Baoding recorded 447.4 mm of rain in a single day, surpassing all historical records for daily rainfall in the region. The intense deluge forced the emergency evacuation of 19,453 people from 6,171 households as waters inundated streets and homes.

This extreme weather event follows an increasingly alarming pattern of climate-induced disasters across China. The China Meteorological Administration posted videos showing emergency crews wading through knee-deep floodwaters as they rescued stranded residents. The scale of rainfall has been compared to the catastrophic floods in 2023 caused by Typhoon Doksuri, which submerged large parts of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei.

The current monsoon season has already brought widespread damage across several provinces. In Shandong, flash floods earlier this week killed at least two people, with ten more still missing. Sichuan, Gansu, and parts of Liaoning have also experienced heavy rains, landslides, and flood alerts. Earlier in July, record-breaking rains in Sichuan submerged ancient towns and damaged critical infrastructure.

Southern provinces such as Guangxi and Guizhou are also struggling with flood-related disasters. Over 6,000 people were displaced in these areas last month after torrential rains overwhelmed riverbanks. June’s Typhoon Wutip further worsened the situation, forcing the evacuation of 620,000 people across Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, and Zhejiang. At least five people were killed in Guangxi alone.

While northern and western China grapple with floods, eastern cities like Wuhan and Shanghai are facing a prolonged heatwave, with daily temperatures exceeding 40°C. This dual crisis of floods and heat has strained China’s power grids, with air conditioning usage alone accounting for over a third of national electricity consumption.

The Ministry of Emergency Management reported that natural disasters in the first half of 2025 caused economic losses amounting to 54.11 billion yuan (approximately 7.5 billion US dollars), affecting over 23 million people. Flooding accounted for more than 90 percent of the total damage.

Meteorologists are warning of more extreme rainfall events in the weeks ahead as the East Asian monsoon continues. Authorities are stepping up rescue efforts, reinforcing riverbanks, and issuing early warnings in at-risk zones. The intensity and frequency of such disasters are being closely linked to climate change, with scientists urging urgent investment in climate resilience and disaster preparedness.