Landslide and Typhoon Maysak Devastate Southern China

Two major natural disasters struck southern China on July 17, as a devastating landslide in Chongqing buried multiple residential buildings while Typhoon Maysak continued to wreak havoc across Guangxi, affecting over 2.6 million residents. The events mark the latest chapter in an ongoing extreme weather crisis that has engulfed multiple provinces since early July.

Chongqing Landslide

On the morning of July 17, a major landslide occurred along the Wujiang River in Hanjia Street, Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County, Chongqing, burying multiple residential buildings with people trapped inside, according to Xinhua News Agency. Rescue teams have so far saved seven people, though the total number of trapped individuals remains unknown. Emergency response operations are ongoing at the site.

Typhoon Maysak’s Toll in Guangxi

Meanwhile, Typhoon Maysak has inflicted widespread devastation across all 14 cities and 78 counties of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. According to Xinhua, the storm has affected more than 2.6 million people, destroyed 126.7 million hectares of crops, and killed over 900,000 livestock. The typhoon has damaged thousands of homes, with 729 houses completely collapsed and another 925 severely damaged.

Infrastructure across the region remains severely disrupted. As of July 16, 2,022 households were still without power, though authorities have restored 91.62% of the 7,604 failed telecom base stations. Some 301 water supply projects remain under repair, with officials targeting full restoration by July 20. Approximately 4,516 displaced residents are sheltering in 70 centralized facilities.

Zhou Yunkui, Deputy Director of the Guangxi Emergency Management Department, stated that the current focus is shifting to sheltering affected residents and restoring infrastructure, prioritizing basic living guarantees, services, and psychological counseling for those in emergency shelters.

Broader Crisis Context

The disasters are part of a larger crisis that began on July 4, when Typhoon Maysak — the 10th named storm of the 2026 season — made landfall in Hainan and subsequently struck the Guangxi-Vietnam border. The typhoon’s residual circulation interacted with the northeast cold vortex and southwest monsoon, triggering extreme rainfall across southern and central China.

As documented by Wikipedia, the floods have affected at least seven provinces including Guangxi, Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong. As of July 9, at least 50 people had died, 10 were missing, and 331 were injured. Guangxi alone reported 39 deaths and 9 missing, while Hubei recorded 11 deaths, 1 missing, and 331 injured.

Critical infrastructure failures have compounded the crisis. The 66-year-old Liulan Reservoir in Hengzhou, Nanning developed two breaches totaling approximately 50 meters on July 6, while the Yunbiao Reservoir also suffered overtopping. In Hubei, severe convective storms spawned tornadoes that struck Huanggang, Huangshi, Ezhou, and Xianning on July 6, with maximum wind speeds reaching 145 km/h.

Government Response

China’s National Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters raised its emergency response to Level II for Guangxi. On July 7, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang issued disaster response directives, calling for all-out rescue efforts. The central government has allocated over 260 million yuan — comprising 160 million yuan in disaster relief funds and 100 million yuan for infrastructure investment — to support rescue operations and recovery efforts.

Military, fire rescue, and militia forces have been deployed to affected areas. Authorities have set a deadline of July 18 to restore power to all remaining households and July 20 for emergency water supply restoration.

Analysis and Outlook

The simultaneous disasters underscore China’s growing vulnerability to extreme weather events, which experts attribute to the combined effects of global warming and a rare super El Niño phenomenon. The failure of aging infrastructure, particularly the 66-year-old Liulan Dam, has raised urgent questions about the resilience of China’s water management systems.

Agricultural losses are expected to have significant economic repercussions for local farming communities, while the destruction of a snake farm in Yunbiao Town — which released 800-900 snakes including cobras into nearby villages — highlights the complex secondary hazards that can arise from such disasters.

With rescue operations ongoing in both Chongqing and Guangxi, and the broader flood crisis still developing, the full human and economic toll of this disaster season remains to be determined. The coming days will be critical as authorities race to restore essential services and prevent further loss of life.