

Heavy rains continue to cause serious flooding all along the Yangtze River, the worst hit area has been the poorly-planned city of Wuhan, home to over 10 million people, many of which are currently wet.

For the last week, the city has received 560.5 millimeters of rainfall, setting a historic weekly high. At 9 a.m. yesterday morning, the Wuhan meteorological office issued a red alert — the highest in the city’s four-tier warning system.

And for good reason. In one video that has gone viral on the Chinese internet, huge waves are seen crashing onto pedestrian as a truck passes by on the street:

Many metro stations in Wuhan have been completely flooded and some lines have been suspended.











Meanwhile, above ground, traffic in the city has been paralyzed by flooded streets.















One stadium has been turned into a giant bathtub by all the flooding:



One Weibo user compared flood levels in different university campuses around the city and joked that students ought to consider their swimming abilities when deciding which university to apply for.



Experience the city for yourself in gif form:











The flooding problem has become so severe that Premier Li Keqiang was dispatched to visit a dam in Anhui province yesterday.



Apple Daily posted a comparison photo with Li (left) and his predecessor, former Premier Wen Jiabao (right). One netizen is quoted as saying that the premier’s plane must have landed at the wrong spot, considering the fact that it looks so dry and sunny in the photo, while there are badly flood-striken places all around he could have chosen from. Tough crowd.

Well, Premier Li later arrived in Wuhan via high-speed railway to oversee the rescue operation. Look, there’s Li treading through knee-deep water and he didn’t even bother to roll up his pants’ legs! Happy now?



Apparently so, as Li’s visit has met been met by laudatory comments on the internet, unified in opinion and phrasing, with only a few bad apples out there.



So @ChuBailiang 's tweet @ premier Li standing in the water becoming a china Internet meme. Just got this in wechat pic.twitter.com/rSbadtiO6t — Bill Bishop (@niubi) July 6, 2016



On July 3rd, the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters estimated that the flooding had thus far affected 32 million people in 26 provinces, killing at least 186 people, destroying 56,000 houses and costing some 50.6 billion RMB in damages.

Did we mention there’s a typhoon coming?

By Victor Fung

[Images via China Daily and Weibo]