Heavy rains battered southern China on Sunday, triggering flooding that forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the country’s most populous province and briefly caused waterspouts in Hong Kong, where forecasters warned of the possibility of severe flooding.
Guangdong province, home to about 127 million people, has been raining since last week. The weather intensified over the weekend, hitting the northern and southern Pearl River Delta regions of the province, including Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, and the cities of Hong Kong and Macau.
The city of Yingde in northern Guangdong received nearly a foot of rain from Friday to Sunday, state-owned China Daily reported. sunday report. Nearly 20,000 people were evacuated and nine rivers were at risk of flooding, the report said.
In Canton, the Longxue community was hit by nearly five inches of rain in four hours on Sunday morning, the highest amount in the province.
Beijiang, a tributary of the Pearl River, flooded late Saturday, China’s Ministry of Water Resources said explain on Sunday. The ministry said the river was at risk of “extremely severe” flooding on Monday as heavy downpours continued.
In Hong Kong, a Chinese territory south of Guangdong, Saw a waterspout The local weather agency noted water on Sunday morning.Waterspouts are Rotating air columns and water mist This phenomenon occurs when cold air flows over warm water and absorbs moisture.
There were no reports of waterspout damage and the city’s heavy rain warning was canceled at 2pm, but forecasters warned that strong winds and flooding were possible.
Heavy rain also affected parts of China’s neighboring provinces of Guangxi, Jiangxi and Fujian on Sunday.
According to the China Weather Network, a subsidiary of the China Meteorological Administration, the heaviest rainfall on Monday is expected to move from northern to eastern Guangdong, with some areas possibly receiving 10 inches of rainfall in 24 hours. The rain is expected to begin to ease on Tuesday.
Thunderstorms and sometimes heavy showers are also expected in Hong Kong on Monday.
