Expert blames climate change for spate of unusual flooding

Increase in temperatures contributed to recent heavy rainfall, forecaster says

The extraordinary flood raging along the Beijiang River in southern China, which arrived two months before the usual time for floods of similar intensity, provides new evidence that the climate crisis is looming larger, an expert said.

On Monday, the Shijiaowen hydrological station on the Beijiang in Qingyuan, Guangdong province, reported a flow of 18,100 cubic meters per second, well above its annual average of 2,400 cubic m/s for the same day, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

A major tributary of the Pearl River, the Beijiang originates in Jiangxi province, with most of its length in Guangdong.