China floods show need to prepare for more extreme weather events, experts say

Name: As rains ease in central China, 3 million people still struggling with effects of deadly flooding
Uploaded: 2021-07-24T06:00:17.000Z
Duration: 3 min 56 s
Description: As rains ease in central China, 3 million people still struggling with effects of deadly flooding

As the climate changes, long-term urban planning, including better drainage, and reliable weather forecasts seen as key to protecting lives and property

Balance must be found between cost and level of flood protection needed, according to water and environmental engineering professor

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A resident wades through a flooded street in Zhengzhou, Henan province on Friday. Photo: AFP

Holly ChikandErika Na

Published: 2:00pm, 24 Jul 2021Updated: 2:00pm, 24 Jul 2021

Devastating floods in central China this week have highlighted how vulnerable cities can be to extreme rainfall, as the world faces more such weather events due to climate change.

Water and engineering experts say long-term urban planning, including better drainage systems, and reliable weather forecasts are key to protecting lives and property.

Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, has been inundated with record rainfall – a year’s worth in days, and more than 200mm in an hour – since last Saturday. It had caused at least 56 deaths as of Friday and an estimated US$10 billion in economic losses, according to state media.

Big cities around the world could not have coped with the intensity of that rainfall, according to Chen Ji, a professor of water and environmental engineering at the University of Hong Kong.

“If rain of the scale seen in Zhengzhou happened in Hong Kong or Shanghai, it would be impossible to cope with,” he said, adding that Hong Kong sees average yearly rainfall of 2,400mm and has among the best flood control infrastructure in the world.

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As rains ease in central China, 3 million people still struggling with effects of deadly flooding

Chen said urban planners had to find a balance between the cost and level of flood protection needed, noting that “the cost would be huge” for a city to design and build drainage systems to handle rare events like a deluge of more than 200mm of rain in an hour.