The state broadcaster CCTV reported that water levels in southwestern Guangxi province on the Rong River rose to 5.04 meters (16.5 feet) above warning levels following heavy rainfall since Saturday morning.

In Aba in southwestern Sichuan province, about 60 meters (197 feet) of the road was destroyed after days of torrential rain caused the river to burst its banks.

Early warnings from the authorities meant there were no casualties reported. Rescue workers had to create a temporary route on the mountain top for vehicles to pass through, according to CCTV.

The network added that authorities in southern Jiangxi province are expecting severe flooding in Poyang, which is China’s largest freshwater lake, and joins the Yangtze near the city of Jiujiang.

Water levels on the lake were rising at an unprecedented pace and reached 22.65 meters (74 feet) by 13:00 GMT on Saturday. That exceeded the record high set in 1998 and was well above the alert level of 19.5 meters (64 feet).

The floods since Monday have already affected 5.2 million people in Jiangxi province, with 432,000 people evacuated from their homes, Al Jazeera reported.

It also damaged 4.56 million hectares (11.27 million acres) of crops and destroyed 988 houses, causing damage estimated at nearly $929m, CCTV reported.

China’s emergency management ministry is sending aid to the province in the form of assault boats, tents, folding beds, and blankets.

Elsewhere, a county in central China’s Hubei Province raised the flood-control response from level 2 to level 1, the top level of China’s four-tier emergency response for floods.

Yangxin County in Hubei’s Huangshi City has now had five rounds of heavy rain since the beginning of the rainy season, with a total of 714mm (28 inches) of rainfall between June 8 and July 10.

That is near twice the amount expected for that time of year.

The Chinese government has allocated about $44.2m for disaster relief in flood-hit regions of the country, the National Development and Reform Commission said on Saturday.

The toll from the Torrential Rains in Mianning County included two people who died when several vehicles plunged into a river after flooding damaged a highway.

Ten others were missing and more than 7,000 had been evacuated from their homes, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Southern China has been battered by rainstorms that have triggered landslides and flooding since the start of June, with at least 78 people killed according to the emergency management ministry.

Another 12 million have been affected by property damage, road closures and other disruptions, including 720,000 people rescued or relocated from flood waters by emergency workers.

The flood season has caused 25.7 billion Yuan ($3.6 billion) in economic losses, the ministry said, a further blow to a domestic economy already suffering from the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reported.

Photos and videos published by state media showed submerged fields and rescuers wading through waist-high water, carrying local residents on their backs.

In the nearby megacity of Chongqing, the water level rose more than five meters above the flood safety line, setting a new record.

China’s central government plans to spend at least 200 million Yuan on flood relief equipment including tents and beds for evacuees, the emergency ministry said Sunday.