China Pours Millions Into Disaster Relief as Tornadoes, Floods and a Landslide Overwhelm Three Provinces

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A Week of Compounding Disasters

China's central government has released more than 200 million yuan (around $29 million) in relief funds this week, after three separate disasters struck within days of each other. The money is meant to rebuild homes, schools, roads and hospitals across three provinces.

The disasters came in quick succession. On Monday night, rare tornadoes tore through Hubei province in central China. A day earlier, a landslide in the northwestern province of Gansu had buried dozens of forestry workers. At the same time, flooding from Tropical Storm Maysak was already swamping the southern region of Guangxi.

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Tornadoes Rip Through an Industrial Hub

Two tornadoes struck Hubei on Monday evening, with wind speeds reaching about 149 kilometers per hour (93 mph). Local authorities said the storms killed at least eight people and injured hundreds more. Cars were overturned, roofs were torn from buildings, and one man was reportedly pulled from a 12th-floor apartment by the force of the wind.

Tornadoes of this strength are extremely unusual in Hubei, an industrial region known for automotive and technology manufacturing (a hub for car and tech factories). A meteorologist at the provincial weather bureau told local media the last comparable tornado had struck the region years earlier. Experts say the storms formed where Typhoon Maysak's outer bands collided with the seasonal summer rains.

Beijing has allocated 50 million yuan (about $7.4 million) to rebuild infrastructure in Hubei, plus another 20 million yuan (about $3 million) to help displaced residents resettle.

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Flooding Strands Tens of Thousands in Guangxi

Further south, Tropical Storm Maysak brought some of the heaviest rainfall the Guangxi region has seen in years. Reservoirs overflowed or broke, sending floodwater into towns and cities. Officials confirmed at least six deaths and said about 130,000 people had been evacuated.

Residents described being trapped in their homes as water levels kept rising. One woman told the Associated Press her brother's family, including a nine-month-old baby, had been stranded for days without electricity or running water, with local authorities slow to respond. Similar accounts spread across Chinese social media, along with videos of flooded streets and stranded families.

More than 8,000 rescue workers and nearly 6,000 boats have since been deployed to reach stranded residents. Beijing added 100 million yuan (about $14.7 million) in relief funds to the region, on top of the Hubei allocation.

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A Deadly Landslide in Gansu

In Gansu province, a landslide buried a group of forestry workers early Tuesday after days of heavy rain saturated the mountainside. Chinese state media initially reported that 33 people were swept away; rescue teams have since pulled 17 survivors from the debris, though at least 16 people remain missing or dead, according to the latest state broadcaster figures.

The central government has allocated 30 million yuan (about $4.4 million) to the province to support the recovery effort. Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for an "all-out" rescue and relief operation across all three disaster zones.

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A Pattern Beijing Struggles to Manage

The scale of this week's disasters has again exposed gaps in China's disaster-response system, particularly in reaching rural and outlying communities quickly. Residents in flood-hit villages said they had to rely on social media to call for help rather than official channels — a recurring complaint in past Chinese flood disasters. Independent observers and rights groups have long argued that China's centrally controlled media and local bureaucracy can slow transparent, timely reporting from disaster zones, making it harder for outside rescuers and international observers to verify the true scale of casualties.

None of this week's disasters is isolated. Southern and central China regularly face destructive flooding during the summer monsoon season, and scientists say a warming climate is making extreme rainfall events more frequent and intense across East Asia.

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What Comes Next

The danger is not over. Super Typhoon Bavi, which battered the U.S. territory of Guam with winds of nearly 290 km/h (180 mph) earlier this week, is now forecast to make landfall in southeastern China by the weekend. Forecasters warn it could dump further heavy rain on the already-saturated Guangxi and Hubei regions, raising fresh risks of flooding and landslides.

In Taiwan, farmers have already begun rushing to harvest rice crops ahead of the storm's arrival. Neighboring countries have not been spared either: landslides linked to monsoon rains have killed several Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, while flooding in India has left more than a dozen people dead in recent days.

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Sources

1. Reuters – "Landslide in China's Gansu province traps 16, state media reports" – https://wmbdradio.com/2026/07/06/landslide-in-chinas-gansu-province-traps-16-state-media-says/
2. Reuters (via The Business Standard) – "Tornadoes wreak havoc across central China as Typhoon Bavi looms offshore" – https://www.tbsnews.net/worldbiz/china/tornadoes-wreak-havoc-across-central-china-typhoon-bavi-looms-offshore-1481836
3. CNN – "Man blown from 12th-floor apartment as deadly tornado rips through central China" – https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/07/china/man-blown-from-12th-floor-apartment-deadly-tornado-china-intl-hnk
4. The Associated Press – "China allocates millions in new disaster relief after storms and a deadly landslide" – https://apnews.com/article/china-tropical-storm-maysak-rain-flooding-18959154a068bf186f04fe6dea882c16

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