South China river sees its 2024 "No.1 Flood"

BEIJING, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Water Resources on Saturday announced that the Xijiang River in the Pearl River basin is experiencing its 2024 "No.1 Flood," a classification given to the first flood to reach a certain standard of severity in a single river each year.

Water flows at the Wuzhou hydrological station in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region rose to the station's warning line of 18.5 meters at 3:20 p.m. Saturday.

To date, seven heavy floods have occurred in the Pearl River basin this year.

The ministry said it would strengthen forecasts and early warnings, and take preventative measures against floods in the basin.

It issued a Level-IV emergency response to flooding across four southern provincial-level regions on Friday, projecting that heavy rains would hit Guangxi, Fujian, Yunnan and Guizhou from Friday to Sunday.

China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I being the most extreme response.