China Flood Death Toll in Guangxi Rises to 159

Nanning (GNP): The death toll from severe flooding triggered by Typhoon Maysak in southern China has climbed to 159, with ten people still unaccounted for, authorities said Friday, marking a sharp revision from earlier figures released in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

The flooding struck China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in early July after the typhoon brought unusually heavy and prolonged rainfall to the area. The updated toll was announced during post-disaster recovery meetings held in the regional capital, Nanning, and in the nearby city of Guigang, both of which have since shifted from emergency response into reconstruction and long-term disaster mitigation planning.

More than 1.65 million people across the two cities were affected by the flooding, according to figures cited by Chinese state media, and the revised toll represents a significant increase from the 39 deaths initially reported in Guangxi during the early response to the disaster. Authorities have not publicly explained why the updated figure was released roughly six weeks after the flooding occurred.

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The scale of the disaster stemmed from historically rare and extensive rainfall as Typhoon Maysak moved through the region, triggering widespread flooding and landslides across Guangxi. Water levels exceeded warning thresholds at dozens of monitoring stations during the height of the storm, prompting authorities to raise the region’s flood emergency response to its highest level and deploy rescue personnel, boats and emergency supplies as further rain threatened the area.

The most severe structural damage occurred in Hengzhou, near Nanning, where two sections of the Liulan Reservoir dam collapsed on July 6, releasing a large volume of floodwater downstream through a breach roughly 50 metres wide and forcing large-scale evacuations in nearby communities.

With emergency operations now concluded, authorities in Nanning and Guigang say their focus has moved toward rebuilding affected areas and strengthening disaster prevention, mitigation and relief systems to reduce the impact of future flooding events in the region.