Flood · Full chronicle and history

A breach occurred in the protective embankment of the Tarbela Dam 5th Extension Hydropower Project in Pakistan, causing a large volume of reservoir water to flood into tunnels and the plant area. Construction personnel were evacuated, and the project has been suspended indefinitely.

According to a report by Sound of Hope, a drainage project on the Yellow River has breached. Video footage shows turbulent water at the scene, and some comments question the actual significance and effectiveness of pumping operations carried out after the breach.

On September 28, multiple areas in Dazhou, Sichuan, experienced heavy rainfall, causing rivers to swell rapidly and severe flooding. A netizen filmed a local police station submerged by the floodwaters.

Flood disasters occurred in Zhenlong Township, Hengzhou, Guangxi. The houses of multiple villagers were destroyed, and they are in urgent need of daily living supplies such as autumn and winter clothes, bedding, and kitchenware. Netizens have launched donation appeals on social media platforms.

On September 15, some areas of Wuzhishan City had been without water for multiple consecutive days due to flooding. At the emergency water distribution site, residents got into arguments and physical scuffles over grabbing water hoses and cutting in line, and order at the scene was thrown into chaos for a time.

On September 7, 2026, a video blogger recorded aerial footage of the flooding in Zuo'an Town, Suichuan County, Jiangxi and posted it online, only to receive calls from local government departments pressuring him to immediately delete the flood videos, sparking criticism of stability maintenance over disaster reporting.

On September 5, 2026, the BBC reported that on the ninth day after the catastrophic flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border, multiple survivors were rescued from a hydropower station tunnel. The disaster caused heavy casualties in both China and Nepal, with Tibetan officials reporting dozens dead and hundreds missing.

Chinese official reports state that as of September 4, the disaster has left 31 people dead and 531 missing, with a total of 987 personal belongings recovered at the scene.

On September 2, 2026, surviving workers at Nepal's Trishuli 3A hydropower station told the media that before the flash flood arrived on August 26, workers had requested evacuation, but the Chinese national in charge ordered them to stay and keep working while he left first, leaving multiple workers trapped in the tunnel.

Nepal's immigration department found in electronic records that on the day of the flood, 89 people departed for Tibet and 4 were registered as entering Nepal; the last transaction occurred at 8:35:03.

Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the floods have confirmed 903 deaths, about 4,200 people missing, and more than 10,000 rescued, with the missing including people from 38 countries.

Chinese authorities released disaster figures for the Tibetan side, saying 7 people were killed, 554 were missing, and 2 others were rescued.

Before the flood hit, workers requested evacuation but did not obtain approval from their Chinese-national supervisor; after the supervisor left, they fled, floodwaters and mud poured into the tunnel, and many were trapped.

On August 7, flower farmers in Hengzhou, Guangxi released footage showing that, affected by the flooding from the discharge of the Liulan Reservoir for more than ten days, large areas of jasmine plants in local fields had lost their leaves and withered, and the soil was severely compacted.

An insider from the Three Gorges Project revealed that the death toll in the Guangxi Hengzhou flood reached over 17,000 people. The insider also disclosed that the Three Gorges Dam has multiple water seepage issues at its base, and the leadership has arranged for their families to evacuate. The whistleblower claimed that relevant departments had analysis reports on the potential collapse of the Three Gorges Dam, predicting that a dam break would affect at least 470 million people.

The investigative report published by Southern Weekly, "Guangxi Liulan Reservoir Station Chief Talks About the 24 Hours Before the Breach," revealed that the reservoir's renovation cost billions yet was still a tofu-dreg project, the sluice gates were damaged, and of 54 staff on the payroll only 2 to 3 understood reservoirs; it was deleted across the entire internet within 24 hours of going online.

According to a submission from an insider posted by the X account Luo Xiang, Wu Qiren of China Three Gorges Corporation was taken away for investigation on July 21 after revealing the flood disaster and the internal truths about the Three Gorges at a dinner gathering and sending out information by circumventing the Great Firewall.

Starting at 9:00 AM on July 14, the Dahuofang Reservoir in Liaoning increased its flood discharge, with the maximum downstream release reaching 1,000 cubic meters per second, approximately 2.6 times the previous level.

On July 14, 2026, Southern Weekly published an investigative report revealing inside details including the gate motor failure before the breach of Liulan Reservoir and the station chief calling the mayor 11 times without getting through; after causing a huge sensation, the report was deleted and banned across the entire internet within 24 hours.

On July 11, heavy rains in Qianxi, Tangshan, Hebei triggered floods. Some people lost their footing in the water and were swept away by the rapids, while one family was trapped on a car roof calling for help.

The Ministry of Water Resources officially announced the launch of a Level-4 emergency response for flood defense in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, with related administrative procedures reaching the surrounding areas of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

On July 10, 2026, it was reported online that during the floods in Hengzhou, Nanning, Guangxi, in addition to the Liulan Reservoir, the Gandao, Yunbiao, Jijing and other reservoirs also suffered dam breaches. Officials were accused of covering up the disaster and arresting those spreading the news on charges of “spreading rumors.”

On July 8, a man was administratively punished by Qinzhou police for spreading disaster information about the "Liulan Reservoir collapse." The reason was that he misreported the reservoir's location as Qinzhou instead of Hengzhou.

A 50-meter-wide breach was washed out in the dam body of the Liulan Reservoir in Hengzhou, Nanning, Guangxi, turning multiple downstream villages and towns into a sea of water and causing major casualties and property losses.

In the early morning of July 6, the Guigang Meteorological Observatory in Guangxi upgraded its orange rainstorm warning to red, forecasting heavy downpours and floodwaters exceeding warning levels. This sparked public discussion over the authorities' delayed warnings and subsequent suppression of grassroots meteorological forecasting.

The Reservoir Service Department issued a notice in the evening, warning the public to stay away from the riverbanks and preparing for flood discharge, but the sluice gates were not opened; the contractor claimed they were going to fish.

In July, major floods reaching the numbering standard set by the Ministry of Water Resources occurred one after another on the Shuiyang River, the Xijiang River and other rivers, and the Ministry of Water Resources officially designated and flagged them in succession.

After making landfall in Hainan, a typhoon moved into Guangxi, causing floods in many parts of the region, including a partial breach of a reservoir named Lanshui Mountain, which washed away many villages. The official death toll is 39, but the host expressed doubt about this figure.

According to reports, police stood guard in disaster-stricken Hengzhou, Guangxi after the disaster, barring people from entering the affected area, and claimed the arrangements were meant to avoid triggering public opinion risks.

In early July this year, several reservoirs in Hengzhou, Guangxi, collapsed, causing floods. Water conservancy expert Wang Weiluo, who lives in Germany, said the breach of the Liulan Reservoir is closely related to the Pinglu Canal, and he put forward three factors: the canal changing the direction of river flow, flood embankments obstructing drainage, and the destruction of the Yu River watershed.