We must be prepared: China adapts to an era of extreme flooding | China

EEvery summer, Dongting Hu, China's second-largest freshwater lake, swells as floodwaters from the Yangtze River flow to its borders. Dams and dikes are erected around the edges of lakes to protect against flooding. But this year is not the first time they have been overwhelmed.

At the beginning of July, for three days, more than 800 rescuers from Hunan province mobilized to block the breaches. A single rupture required 100,000 cubic meters of rock to be sealed, according to Zhang Yingchun, an official from Hunan. At least 7,000 people had to be evacuated. It was one of several disasters to hit China as the country grappled with a summer of extreme weather. In August, there were 25 major floods, the most since records began in 1998, state media reported.

Xi Jinping, Chinese President, called for all-out rescue and relief action to protect people affected by floods in Hunan, state media reported.

One of these people was Ren Benxin, an archaeologist who lives on a small forested island in the upper tributaries of the Dongting Hu. He calls his idyllic home Soultopia. In addition to conducting archaeological research, he hosts travelers and cares for the herd of stray cats and dogs he has adopted over the years.

On July 5, his house was flooded. First, I saved the animals. Then I collected the supplies, he said. It was the first time in 10 years that I had experienced something like that.

The wooden cabins in Rens' corner of the islet were almost entirely submerged in muddy water. Chickens used the remains of destroyed buildings as rafts to avoid drowning. Ren crossed the island in a small plastic boat. One of his dogs, Eason, became ill after drinking dirty water and died a few days later.

Two years ago we experienced a severe drought and this year there are floods. I think we have to be ready for anything, Ren said.

Experiences like Rens are increasingly common in China, as global warming makes extreme weather events more likely and undermines communities' defenses against these disasters.

Dongting Hu illustrates these challenges. It was once the largest freshwater lake in China. But decades of agricultural development have meant that large areas of land have been reclaimed for agriculture, reducing the storage capacity of the lakes. Droughts and floods are becoming more and more severe.

At least six Chinese provinces experienced major flooding in 2024. In addition to the Hunan floods, heavy rains in Guangdong, China's most populous province, forced more than 110,000 people to relocate. After years of treating weather disasters as isolated incidents requiring a local response, Chinese authorities are increasingly aware of the need to adapt to extreme weather events nationwide.

The harsh reality is here: failure to take climate action will cost China dearly and pose a threat to social security, said Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

At the UN COP29 on the climate crisis in November, China released an action plan for climate adaptation, pledging to establish a technical platform to monitor and predict extreme weather events and share its knowledge on improving early warning mechanisms.

It marked a shift for the country that has long acknowledged the science of the climate crisis but has focused its environmental cleanup efforts on problems such as air pollution rather than floods and droughts serious but relatively rare.

Chinese leaders tend to take the long view of the game, Li said. To demonstrate their long-term vision and prevent further risks, more must be done to systematically prepare for the impacts of climate change.

For flood victims like Ren, official recognition and compensation for the damage caused by the climate crisis cannot come soon enough. The repair work cost him more than 70,000 yuan (7,600), although authorities sent rescue workers to help.

For now, Ren is developing his own ways to adapt to climate change. He avoids electrical appliances after his own were destroyed in the flood and uses wood stoves for cooking and heating. He plans to build a new house suspended in the trees, to be safe from flooding.

I think extreme weather is more common now. So I have to prepare for everything. If I like the place, I'll stay.

Additional research by Chi-hui Lin And Jason Tzu Kuan Lu