Submerged in Chongqing: Record Downpours Leave Dead and Missing in Southwest China

CHONGQING, China — Massive search-and-rescue operations have been launched across southwest China's Chongqing Municipality after sudden, extraordinarily heavy rainstorms battered the region overnight, triggering devastating flash floods and geological disasters. State media reports that the localized deluge has left multiple people dead and nearly two dozen missing.

The extreme weather event struck late Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning, May 24, 2026, with central and western parts of Chongqing experiencing the brunt of the storm.

The hardest-hit area was Chongqing’s Yongchuan District. According to the local meteorological department, the Chashan Zhuhai area was inundated with a staggering 296.6 millimeters (11.7 inches) of rain in a mere two-hour window between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on Sunday. At its peak, the storm unleashed a maximum hourly rainfall intensity of 103.6 millimeters.

Meanwhile, Beibei District’s Xinglong township was also severely impacted, recording 122.9 millimeters of rainfall within three hours.

As of Sunday afternoon, local authorities confirmed that the death toll in Yongchuan District has risen to three, with 17 people still officially listed as missing. In neighboring Beibei District, emergency management bureaus reported that an additional two individuals remain unaccounted for, bringing the total number of missing persons across the municipality to 19.

The sudden wall of water and debris prompted the immediate evacuation of 168 residents in Yongchuan, with at least 82 people relocated to emergency community shelters.

Because the region had already been saturated by continuous rain over the preceding days, meteorological authorities warned that the ground is highly unstable. This has drastically heightened the risk of further catastrophic geological events, including secondary landslides, mudslides, and structural collapses.

In response, Chongqing activated a Level-III geological disaster emergency response early Sunday morning. Later in the day, the National Commission for Disaster Prevention, Reduction, and Relief elevated the situation, activating a Level IV national disaster emergency response to dispatch specialized work teams directly to the affected zones.