Chongqing's flood control and drought relief authority initiated a flood control emergency response on July 3, 2023. Photo: from IC.

 
Three yellow flood alerts have been issued by a local  hydrological monitoring station in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Tuesday morning with a heavy rainstorm hitting 24 districts and swelling  multiple rivers.

According to the hydrological monitoring station, 24 districts in Chongqing have been engulfed from Monday to Tuesday by the heavy rain. The largest daily rainfall of 251.5 millimeters was reported in Wanzhou district, pushing the water level of the Modao Stream in the region to surge to 12 to 13 meters over a few hours, very close to the alert water level.

The city's flood control and drought relief authority initiated a flood control emergency response on Monday. As of 8 am on Tuesday, the water levels of seven rivers in Chongqing are still beyond the warning level and one river in Jiangjin district surpassed the set security limit. Other 75 small and medium-sized rivers have had water levels risen from one to eight meters, but are still below the alert level.

Chongqing is not alone in facing potential flooding. Heavy rain also struck areas in its neighboring provinces of Northwest China's Shaanxi and Southwest China's Sichuan provinces. 

Shaanxi has experienced widespread rain since July, causing several sections of roads in some towns and cities to become  impassable. Zhenba county in the city of Hanzhong encountered a very rare super heavy rainstorm which reportedly happens only once every 50 years. Some 4,533 people have been evacuated and the economic losses are expected to surpass 120 million yuan ( $16.6 million).

Torrential rain in city of Bazhong in Sichuan on Monday has damaged crop sand causing waterlogging in low-lying areas. Some underground parking lots were flooded due to rainwater backflow, resulting in submerged vehicles.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Emergency Management issued a notice, requiring all regions to further improve their emergency mechanisms for drainage and flood control to ensure the safety of cities during this year's flood season.