July 6, 2020 - 17:59 AMT
Wuhan residents told to stay indoors again after record rainfall

People living in Wuhan, the central Chinese city that bore the brunt of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, have been told stay indoors once more after record rainfall prompted authorities to raise the city’s emergency response to the second highest-level, The Guardian reports.

A prolonged period of heavy rain is the latest disaster to strike China, where people are only just recovering from the coronavirus outbreak.

State media have been accused of downplaying the severity of the floods, emphasising the heroic efforts of emergency workers by publishing prominent images of soldiers rescuing trapped residents.

Residents waded waist-deep along waterlogged streets in Wuhan, filled after a record 426mm (16.8 inches) fell between Sunday and Monday morning. Authorities raised the four-tier emergency warning to level two on Monday, predicting more severe weather in the coming days.

The country is braced for more flooding, after weeks of what has been for some regions the heaviest rainfall in decades triggered severe flooding and mudslides in almost every province, affecting more than 20 million people and resulting in direct economic losses of at least £4.7bn.

Photo: China News Service/Getty Images