Flooding around China’s Yangtze river basin has already forced more than 1.3 million people to evacuate their homes and surrender them to the extreme weather conditions.
The Civil Affairs Ministry has noted that millions more will be affected by continuing downpour and a looming typhoon, expected to land in China later this week.
The weather conditions that began in late June have reportedly already destroyed upwards of 40,000 homes.
Haunting images of the damage and extent of the storm have been released by local media depicting a sports stadium in Hubei flooded to the top, as well as a harrowing image of a farmer crying as he farewells his pigs, who are unable to be moved away from the flooding due to environmental protection laws.
Whilst flooding is common during the summer monsoon season, extreme weather conditions and heavy rainfall has led to severe loss of life and billions of dollars worth of damage.