Part of expressway bridge in Guizhou collapses as rain, floods batter region

A section of a bridge on the Xiamen-Chengdu Expressway in Guizhou province collapsed on Tuesday morning following a landslide brought on by prolonged heavy rainfall. No casualties have been reported.

The collapse occurred at about 7:40 am in Sandu county as a truck was crossing the bridge. The driver was rescued by emergency teams, according to local authorities.

Drone footage showed three construction vehicles underneath the fallen span. The vehicles belonged to nearby villages and were unoccupied at the time of the collapse, officials said.

Highway patrol officers first observed structural deformation on the bridge as early as 5:51 am and imposed one-way traffic control. A full closure in both directions was implemented by 7:11 am, less than 30 minutes before a portion of the bridge gave way.

An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the collapse.

The Guizhou Meteorological Service reported that during a 24-hour period between 6 am on Monday and 6 am on Tuesday, the southern and southeastern parts of the province experienced widespread heavy rain. Five monitoring stations recorded extremely severe downpours, and 113 stations reported severe rainfall.

Meteorologists warned that rain bands are expected to continue over the coming days, with potential impacts shifting to the northern and western parts of Guizhou.

At 9 am on Tuesday, the province's flood control and drought relief headquarters issued a level four emergency response, the lowest on China's four-tier system, to address the ongoing flood threat.

Nearby Rongjiang county has been hit especially hard, with floodwaters reaching levels not seen in 30 years. Large parts of the county were submerged as rainfall combined with upstream water flow pushed several rivers past their "once-in-30-years" flood threshold, the local flood control office said.

By noon on Tuesday, the Rongjiang government raised its flood alert to the highest level and forecast that water levels would peak at 255 meters at around 1 pm — about 3.5 meters above the guaranteed safety level.

Authorities ordered residents in most of the county's old town and parts of the new urban district to evacuate to higher ground by 9 am.

"The rain has stopped now, but the floodwaters are still quite high and expected to rise," resident Wu Hanjun told China Daily at 3:30 pm.

Aerial footage recorded at midday showed city streets flooded, with videos posted on social media revealing that the famed Village Super League football field was also underwater.

Personnel from the People's Armed Police Force are also deployed in the area to assist with disaster relief, bringing life jackets and boats to aid in evacuations and rescue.

Southern China has been battered by seasonal rainfall since June 17, causing widespread flooding across provinces including Hunan, Guangdong, and Guizhou. A number of areas have received more than 100 millimeters of rain, while some parts of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and Guizhou, Hunan, and Hubei provinces have seen more than 300 millimeters, China Central Television reported.

On Monday, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management allocated 300 million yuan ($41.8 million) in central government funding to seven provincial-level regions for disaster relief and emergency response efforts.