China’s northeast submerged in aftermath of Typhoon Doksuri, nearly 15,000 residents evacuated

Floodwaters accumulated in the aftermath of Typhoon Doksuri continued to deluge farms and cities in northeast China on Saturday, with the country’s disaster relief systems struggling to deal with the deluge caused by one of the strongest storms in years.

A total of 15,000 residents were moved out of the city of Shulan in corn-growing Jilin province, where one person died and four others are missing, according to state media.

It has rained continuously in Shulan since 1 August, some areas getting 489 mm of rainfall, five times the earlier record. Bridges have collapsed and roads were damaged across the city, Chinese state media reported.

State news agency China News Service showed images of waterlogged streets around factories and homes in Shulan, a city of more than 700,000.

The record-breaking rains arrived in late July as the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri moved inland, battering northern China and causing massive floods, disrupting the lives of millions.

Around 1.54 million people had been evacuated from at risk areas in north China’s Hebei province as of Saturday morning, Xinhua reported.

On Saturday, water levels in Zhuozhou to the southwest of Beijing began to drop, with search and rescue and flood drainage efforts continuing in Hebei province’s hardest hit city, according to state media.

Around 100,000 people – a sixth of its population – have been evacuated.

On Saturday, water reached warning levels and continued to rise on the Muling river in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, known as the nation’s “great northern granary”, the provincial hydrology office said.

China has long been aware of urban waterlogging risks, with rapid development creating metropolitan sprawls that cover flood plains with concrete. Extreme weather driven by global warming is making it worse.

The impact of typhoons is rare in China’s northeast, with most typhoons moving away west or northwest after making landfall in China, Chinese meteorological experts say.