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Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday morning raised the emergency response for flood control to Level I, the highest in the four-tier scale.

Local media said it was the first time that authorities in the province had raised the flood alert to the highest grade.

Flooding at record levels is expected along the Qingyi River, while it is also forecast to continue to be heavy on the lower reaches of the Dadu and Min Rivers.

As a result, the province's flood control and drought relief headquarters decided to raise the emergency response as the situation remains grim.

The Changjiang Water Resources Commission (CWRC) issued an orange flood warning for the Jialing River and its tributary Fu River on the upper reaches of the Yangtze in Sichuan on August 16. As per the latest monitoring data, the region is experiencing the "No. 5 Flood" of the year.

Flooding in Huanglongxi Ancient Town. /CGTN

Warning jumps

According to statistics from the Sichuan Climate Center, from August 10 to 15, the accumulated rainfall of more than ten stations including Jintang, Dujiangyan, Wenjiang, Mianzhu, Shifang, and Deyang exceeded the average accumulated rainfall in August.

On August 11, Sichuan saw a round of continuous heavy rain. And on August 14, a second wave came.

From August 14 to 16, the Sichuan Meteorological Observatory issued a rainstorm warning for three consecutive jumps, from blue to yellow to orange. As of Monday, traffic on 10 sections of highways and 71 sections of other major roads in Sichuan had been disrupted by continuous rain and flash floods, according to the province's transportation department.

Rainstorms have covered 12 percent of the province. Forty-one rivers had above-alert and over-preserved water levels. And 22 of these reached the normal safe level, which currently is set at twice the level of floodwaters experienced during the flood season last year.

Leshan City. /CGTN

Affected areas

Both urban areas and villages have been heavily impacted by the new round of torrential rainfall since August 10.

Towns have been flooded as well as farmlands with consequential disruptions to traffic flow. The flood prevention dike in the section of the Mingtai Hydropower Station reservoir in Xinde Town, Santai County, Mianyang City, on the main stream of the Fujiang River, was said to be in danger, leading to the urgent transfer of more than 5,000 people to safer areas. At present, emergency treatment is being carried out in an orderly manner.

The water levels of rivers in cities like Ziyang, Leshan, Neijiang and other towns have been rising. And the rain triggered one of the biggest floods in a century in Ya'an City, which neighbors the provincial capital of Chengdu. The flood was mainly caused by elevated water levels in the Qing Yi River that flows through the city.

Leshan city, south of Chengdu, also saw heavy floods.

Heavy rainfall is forecast for the capital city as well. According to preliminary statistics, 107,000 people in Chengdu, Deyang, Mianyang, Guangyuan, Ya'an and Meishan cities were affected and more than 40,000 were relocated, the Sichuan provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said on Wednesday.

In Mianyang city of Sichuan, two heavy-haul freight trains with a total weight of 8,100 tonnes were pulled onto the Fujiang Bridge by locomotives on Monday afternoon to help thwart the impact of floods. Continuous rain since Saturday night has caused the Mianyang section of Fujiang River in the province to exceed warning levels, posing a serious threat to the safety of the bridge.

Emergency rescue efforts

The rain has now eased up but the heavy flooding has already caused huge economic dents in the lives of residents.

Available data suggests over 60,000 people have been relocated to safety in the cities of Mianyang, Chengdu, Guangyuan and Deyang with no deaths reported. Rescue and recovery missions are still underway.

The Huanglongxi Ancient Town in Sichuan has been shut and its 5,000 permanent residents evacuated.

The Deyang Fire Department sent in lifeboats and personnel. /CGTN

The western Sichuan Basin and the eastern part of the plateau area in western Sichuan have also been hit hard.

With a history dating back more than 1,700 years, the town was a popular tourist spot that attracted tens of thousands of visitors per day. The economic losses are unprecedented.

"I am 55 years old. I have never seen such a huge flood. This is the first time. Every household has lost tens of thousands," said a resident and hustle owner in the old town.

Firefighters and police and military officers have been working non-stop to look for and help trapped people.

(CGTN's Xu Xinchen, Wu Siyang, Li Yang and Bai Xinglong contributed to this story.)

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