China has made substantial progress regarding COVID-19 control, as the local transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has almost been stopped. However, a serious natural disaster, flooding, unfortunately threatened the lives and homes of people in 27 provinces across central and southern China in July, 2020. Starting on June 2, 2020, authorities in China issued alerts for heavy rainfall for 41 consecutive days. The average precipitation in areas along the Yangtze River has reached the highest level since 1961. As of August 13, at least 219 people had been killed, 0·82 million people needed emergency assistance, 4·01 million people were evacuated, and 63·46 million people were affected by the flooding. Flooding has destroyed nearly 0·4 million homes and damaged 5 million hectares of farmland. According to the Ministry of Emergency Management of China, it is estimated that direct economic losses exceed US$25 billion.
It has been estimated that flooding in China between 1950 and 2018 killed more than 282 737 people and damaged 6 billion hectares of land, and that flooding directly cost approximately $6000 billion between 1990 and 2018. However, the indirect effect of floods was not considered in this estimation of costs. The area of land damaged by flooding each year since 1950 shows an increasing trend, which suggests that the potential impact of floods is also increasing, although mortality directly associated with flooding has been decreasing (appendix p 1).
Moreover, El Niño Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and atmospheric circulation patterns might influence the volume of precipitation and slow-moving cyclones, which eventually cause severe flooding.
It has been estimated that mortality in populations affected by flooding might increase by up to 50% in the first year after a flood.
Importantly, floods increase the risk of communicable disease outbreaks and infections (eg, leptospirosis, hepatitis and gastrointestinal disease, cutaneous and respiratory infections), especially in areas with poor hygiene and population displacement.
Contaminants in floodwater (eg, sewage, human and animal faeces, fertilisers, organic waste, toxic chemicals) could lead to infections of the eye and skin and could increase the risk of exposure to poisonous material. Floods could also indirectly facilitate the transmission of water-borne and vector-borne diseases by expanding the number and range of vector habitats. It is also not clear how the floods in 2020 are affecting the physical and mental health of those infected with SARS-CoV-2.
Effective flood protection requires both structural and non-structural measures. Structural flood protection measures are considered a leading solution to prevent the effects of flooding worldwide, including flood control levees that prevent flooding of adjacent areas and limit the flow of the river, reservoirs that act as flow balancers, floodways that discharge excess flood water to ensure the safety of dams, diversions of waterways, and many others.
Non-structural flood protection measures are considered a good complement to structural flood protection measures and can be divided into three categories: avoiding inappropriate use of floodplains and modifying susceptibility to flood damage (eg, via development policies); enhancing preparedness and resilience to flooding (eg, education, flood insurance, tax adjustments); and non-structural flood protection measures that aim to compensate for the drawbacks of structural measures (eg, increasing vegetative cover to reduce erosion).
These non-structural flood protection measures focus on changing human behaviour. For individuals, there are many ways to prevent and mitigate flood hazards, such as monitoring the news and their surroundings, elevating electrical appliances, preparing adequate supplies (eg, drinking water, cash, food), finding places to evacuate to, and planning travel routes to allow rapid evacuation.
Without immediate and unprecedented measures, climate change will result in more heavy flooding, leading to great health and economic impacts, particularly in the context of COVID-19. The world needs to prepare now to mitigate and handle future flooding.
We declare no competing interests.
Supplementary Material
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Article Info
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Published: August 26, 2020
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© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
