October 13, 2026
It is the 37th International Day for Disaster Reduction
This year's theme is
"Building a safe and resilient home"
Emphasis on safety around home
From housing, family, community, etc.
Starting from building the resilience capacity of the “smallest unit” in disaster response
Focus on improving disaster prevention preparedness
and emergency response capabilities
According to the National Climate Center
Already formed once in September 2026
Super strong El Niño event
It is expected that in the next three months
Sea surface temperatures in the equatorial central and eastern Pacific will continue to rise
Reaching peak value in late autumn and early winter
This El Niño event
will become a systematic monitoring
The strongest El Niño event
What does this mean? Let’s take a look together
Super strong El Niño "arrives", the risk of flash floods should not be underestimated
The National Climate Center predicts that this autumn (October-November), most of the central and eastern parts of my country will experience excessive precipitation, with most of Jiangnan and the eastern part of southwest China experiencing 50% to 80% excess precipitation. Risks of extreme precipitation, flash floods, landslides, and debris flows are high. At the same time, autumn rains in West China are generally more abundant, with a spatial distribution of "more in the south and less in the north".
Flash floods are characterized by strong suddenness, rapid confluence, high destructive power, and short escape time. They can often destroy roads and houses in just a few dozen minutes, threatening people's lives and safety.
From a review of typical flash flood disaster events in recent years, there are three key points that must be guarded against:
In terms of risk points, disasters mostly occur in risk areas such as ravine and river settlements, construction areas, valley scenic spots, and upstream and downstream of bridges;
During critical periods, disaster events causing casualties almost all occur in the early hours of the night;
In terms of key targets, the casualties caused by the disaster are mainly concentrated in mobile workers such as working, camping, and river tracing, as well as vulnerable groups such as the elderly and children left behind in mountainous areas.
What do you think of the early warning? Remember the four-color password "blue, yellow, orange and red"
At present, the water conservancy department closely monitors changes in rainfall, water regimes, and flood conditions, strengthens monitoring and early warning of weak links such as flash floods and small and medium-sized river floods, dynamically adjusts early warning thresholds, implements a "response" mechanism for disaster early warning, and pays close attention to the five key links of "who organizes, transfers whom, when to transfer, where to transfer, and not to return without permission" to ensure that people in dangerous areas can "transfer, settle safely, and return without permission."
Let’s take a look at what the “four-color signals” of flash flood disaster meteorological risk warnings represent!
Blue warning - it may happen, pay more attention to weather changes and warning information;
Yellow warning - it is more likely to cause harm to personal safety and infrastructure, so be prepared for transfer in advance;
Orange Alert - High possibility, great threat to personal safety and infrastructure, follow the arrangements and move in an orderly manner;
Red alert - the possibility is very high, you must evacuate immediately, and all personnel in the danger area must be relocated immediately.
After receiving the warning, do not hesitate and do not be greedy for property. A flash flood may only give you a few minutes.
How to escape from a flash flood?
When encountering flash floods in the wild
Go in the right direction and run fast
Make a decisive decision and move to the high ground on both sides of the ditch without hesitation
Never escape along the direction of the ditch
If you are surrounded by floods
Try to contact the fire department as soon as possible
Get in touch with the public security and other rescue departments
Report your position and danger
While waiting for outside rescue
We should also proactively send out distress signals
Such as fire, smoke, flags or loud shouts, etc.
If floods continue to rise
It is difficult to protect yourself in a temporary refuge
Make full use of existing equipment or door panels
Use wooden beds, large pieces of foam and other floating materials to escape
If you have been caught in a flood
Be sure to grab the fixed ones as much as possible
Or something that can float to seek an opportunity to escape
It was found that the high-voltage line tower was tilted
Or when the telephone pole is broken and hanging down
Be sure to get away quickly
Prevent electric shock
Must remember
See how they "outperform" flash floods
·Ba County, Hanzhong Town, Shaanxi Province
On May 24, Ba County, Hanzhong Town, Shaanxi Province encountered extreme rainstorms. The average area rainfall reached 45.3 mm within two hours, and the maximum hourly rainfall intensity was 74.2 mm. The rain measuring radar of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Water Resources captured the strong echo clouds in advance and issued an alarm at about 17:00. At 18:30, the risk level was urgently upgraded to a yellow approaching warning, and the first wave of high-risk people began to move. At 20:10, the warning was upgraded to orange. The provincial, municipal and county levels responded simultaneously and escalated the response. After receiving the early warning information, Zhenba County responded quickly and urged those responsible for grassroots flood control to immediately relocate people from dangerous areas in Yudu Town, Guanyin Town, Sanyuan Town, Changling Town and other places. A total of 857 households and 1,876 people have been relocated. At 23:00, when the peak of the Yinjia River, Yushui River and other rivers in Zhenba County reached its peak, all people in the danger zone had been evacuated and there were no casualties.
·Mabian County, Leshan, Sichuan
At 16:00 on July 10, the water conservancy rain measuring radar captured heavy rainfall clouds continuing to move towards Mabian County. Mabian County immediately issued a risk warning to relevant towns and villages. At 19:00, the radar echo continued to increase in Rongding Town. Mabian County once again pushed relevant forecast information to the grassroots front lines, requiring preparations for risk avoidance and transfer. From 6:00 to 7:00 on the 11th, Mabian County issued a total of 120 early warning and transfer information to 13 flash flood hazard areas. At 7:10 on the 11th, the Ministry of Water Resources issued a yellow flash flood warning to Mabian County. The Provincial Department of Water Resources once again issued a wake-up call to Mabian County, and a total of 1,412 households and 4,814 people were relocated. At about 7:30, flash floods broke out in many towns and villages in Mabian County, without any casualties.
· Maguan County and Hekou County, Wenshan, Yunnan
From 20:00 on May 17 to 8:00 on May 18, Maguan County, Wenshan Prefecture, in the upper reaches of the Daliangzi River, encountered extremely heavy rainfall. The rainfall in 1 hour reached 130 mm, and the rainfall in 6 hours reached 316 mm, both exceeding the maximum values since the hydrological data were recorded in Maguan County. At 23:05 that night, the "four warnings" system took the lead in capturing the risk of extreme rain conditions and immediately issued heavy rain and flash flood warnings to Maguan and Hekou counties. At 23:20, the "four warnings" system automatically triggered an immediate transfer warning, simultaneously issued warnings to 147 responsible persons in Maguan and Hekou counties and completed automatic "calls and responses." Organized the relocation of 114 households with 289 people in Maguan County and the relocation of 56 households with 150 people in Hekou County.
Less than two days apart, from 22:00 on May 19 to 1:00 on May 20, Maguan County once again encountered heavy rainfall. At 22:55 on May 19, the "Four Precautions" system issued a heavy rain and flash flood warning to Maguan County; at 23:40, the "Four Precautions" system issued a preparatory transfer warning to Maguan and Hekou counties, and issued an immediate transfer warning 10 minutes later, automatically "responding" to 115 responsible persons; at 0:01 on the 20th, the Qiaotou Township Government of Hekou County immediately organized the evacuation of the masses to a safe area, and all the people were safely resettled.
"Building a safe and resilient home"
Not just a slogan
But real action
Facing the strongest El Niño in history
Water conservancy workers are ready
It is the duty to defend one’s territory
Keep the land and do your duty
On this International Day for Disaster Reduction
Let us pay attention to flash flood disaster prevention
Learn to read warnings
Master risk avoidance skills
Let’s build together a world that belongs to each of us
Safe and Resilient Home
(Source: China Water Conservancy WeChat official account)
