Massive evacuation under way in southwest China as floods trigger unprecedented alert

China’s longest river, the Yangtze, and several of its tributaries rose to dangerous levels after days of heavy rain. The southwestern province of Sichuan, which includes a major upstream section of the Yangtze, raised its flood emergency response to the highest level for the first time on August 18, 2020. Tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes as rivers overflow and villages and farmland were inundated with water.