In the space of a few hours
this bustling tourist town
was utterly transformed
Some
will remember this disaster
far more vividly than others
Brave, brave
Wow, wow, wow
In June 2020 Yangshuo was hit by the worst floods in living memory
Streets turned to rivers
Few roads were high enough to avoid the surge in water
Shops, highways
and homes
all were waterlogged
Leaving people to choose between the assumed safety of the inside
or the flooded otherworld outside
Water mainly poured into town from two nearby sources
the Yulong River and Jinbao river
From the photographer
Chen Yan, this 360 panorama
shows a large crossroads in downtown Yangshuo
Of its four main streets,
none were untouched
The area worst affected by the floods
has been one of the newly developed parts of town
Vehicles traversing Jiaxiu bridge were trapped
as water rose on either side of them
Lifeboats rushed to
rescue stranded people from the rising waters
Right now we're on the bridge from the film, Jiaxiu bridge
The water has pretty much returned to normal now
On that day you could only see the top of the bridge
Everything around it was underwater
The scale of the damage
was unprecedented
The water level was about here
The whole of the first floor was submerged
And right now he (my uncle) is tidying up
After the floodwater you can see the kitchen here
became this
Because this is a 30 year old
build using mud
Built using mud bricks so
Once exposed to water, the whole thing will fall down
It wasn't only old mud houses that were at risk
Rescue teams
both official and non-official
roamed the streets
helping where they could
As water levels rose
Some raced to park their cars on high ground
Others weren't so lucky
One underground car park was rumoured
to have 300 cars claiming insurance
So scared...
This is another bridge
This bridge is more serious
Washed away by the flood
Right now the electricity and roads here are blocked
The people here don't have electricity. They can't cross the bridge
So this is pretty serious
The blue-roofed house in the distance
has some mud left on top
So at that time the floodwater must have passed over the top of the house
So it still has mud on top
The water tumbled and raged through anything in its path
A stark reminder that
when provoked, nature
is the ultimate force on this planet
I think I've reached the end of the trail
Drone footage at the height of the flood
shows the Yulong River
The river overflowed for kilometres into every single valley in the area
destroying most farmed land
In the immediate vicinity
the river swelled
to over 10 times its usual size
The actual area affected
was far far larger
A local bar owner shared his take on it all
I think it's climate change
This is perhaps the main reason
And...
You know, right now the amount of carbon dioxide in our air is extremely high
It's already
It's not to say...
When it comes to environmental awareness
people don't think too much
about balance between humanity and the surroundings
about equilibrium
They manufacture more rubbish
So I think global warming has caused these things
The weather is very abnormal
I,
as a child, I've seen how Yangshuo has changed, but
These few years the change in the climate has been very strange
It's extremely hot or extremely cold
Massive amounts of rain
And then suddenly an enormous flood
This is all
these environmental weather conditions are influenced by climate change
Before there wasn't any- when I was young there's wasn't any of this
It's very rare
Maybe it was just like this (high water)
Yeah, this was called - we called this
We didn't call it "flood water" we called it "big water" in our local dialect
When I was young, when there was "big water" it was a nice surprise
Very rare to see that
And
in my memory, it's from 2008 that this stuff began to appear
Before that time it was fine, but from 2008 to 2017 - 9 years
Throughout that time it's basically been every year
Just now, from the bridge, we saw there was rubbish here so we came to have a look
However I didn't expect the rubbish here would be such an unbelievable amount
This is all since after the flood, people have transferred rubbish here
To act as a temporary place
You can't see the end
This mountain of rubbish is only one of the consequences of the flood
Scenes like this
are the most obvious echoes that disasters leave in their wake
However our concern should be
the potential for greater damage
In China, the nation's first ever
national survey on natural disaster risks in key areas has already begun
This flooding in Yangshuo
has been a wake up call for them
What will it be for you?