Narra hits Guangxi, triggers evacuations

Torrential rains fueled by Typhoon Narra, the year's 19th typhoon, have triggered widespread severe flooding across South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, prompting civilian evacuations and full-scale disaster relief operations since Saturday.

Relentless downpours hammered multiple cities in the region, including Chongzuo and Fangchenggang, overwhelming local drainage systems and swelling regional waterways.

The Guangxi fire and rescue corps deployed nine specialized rescue teams, fielding 459 firefighters, 114 emergency response vehicles and 80 rescue boats to flood-ravaged communities to support salvage and rescue missions.

Ningming county in Chongzuo endured nonstop torrential rainfall beginning on Saturday, creating an acute flood emergency.

Local authorities elevated the flood control emergency response to Level I at 4 am on Sunday, mobilizing all available public safety and emergency resources to safeguard residents' lives and property.

By Sunday afternoon, rising floodwaters neared second-floor levels in Lian'gang village of Zhai'an township, where the majority of stranded residents were elderly and unable to self-evacuate.

Rescuers and township officials conducted door-to-door rescue patrols, assisting and carrying elderly residents to the nearest designated emergency shelter at a local school.

The shelter was fully stocked with drinking water, packaged food, quilts and daily supplies. On-site medical workers from the township health center conducted blood pressure screenings and distributed medications for evacuees. Hot, freshly prepared meals were delivered to the shelter by 7 pm.

"We feel completely safe and relieved to be here," villager Tan Yuxia said.

The flooding also caused extensive water, power and telecommunications outages across parts of Ningming county.

Remote townships lost all terrestrial network access, relying exclusively on satellite devices to maintain emergency communications.

Thirty major county road segments were submerged or blocked by landslides, while 18 reservoirs and two hydropower stations continued operating above flood-limited water levels and remained stable as of 4 pm on Monday.

In total, 16,226 residents have been safely evacuated across Ningming county, with no casualties or missing persons reported, according to local authorities.

By Sunday evening, intense rainstorms and localized extreme downpours had swept through 64 townships spanning 17 counties and districts across six cities — including Fangchenggang, Chongzuo and Nanning. Moderate to severe rainfall impacted 92 townships in 30 county-level regions across 10 cities throughout Guangxi.

The typhoon has affected 61,000 people across the region. More than 54,000 residents have been displaced by floodwaters, including 8,087 people housed in centralized emergency shelters.

To strengthen emergency response capacity during extreme typhoon disasters, Guangxi's department of emergency management partnered with China Telecom to launch a direct satellite emergency communication system, establishing a critical aerial lifeline for rescues in signal-dead disaster zones.

Users subscribed to the satellite service can make calls and send text messages in remote mountain areas and flood-stricken regions with no 4G or 5G service.

On Monday, China's National Meteorological Center issued blue alerts for typhoons and severe convective weather and a yellow alert for rainstorms, with multiple typhoons forecast to bring heavy rainfall and strong winds to parts of the country.

Heavy rainfall is expected in parts of Guangxi and the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, and Hainan from Monday to Wednesday, according to the NMC.

A significant rain spell is expected to sweep eastward through the eastern part of Northwest China, North China and Northeast China from Tuesday, accompanied by severe convective weather, the NMC said.

A total of about 12,700 people had been evacuated in Northeast China's Liaoning province by Monday morning, as torrential rain battered the region since Sunday morning, local authorities said.

The provincial emergency management department has directed eight cities, including Dalian, Anshan and Dandong, to place 3,611 rescue and emergency response teams totaling over 127,000 personnel on standby for flood relief. Dandong alone had evacuated 8,078 people by 6 am Monday.

Xinhua contributed to this story.