Two sections of a 66-year-old dam collapsed near Nanning in southern China on Monday morning, opening a 50-metre gap in the wall of the Liulan Reservoir as rain from tropical storm Maysak pushed rivers across Guangxi above their warning levels.
The reservoir, built in 1960 in Hengzhou east of Nanning with a capacity of 95.52 million cubic metres, gave way at about 11am local time, the South China Morning Post reported. It was not alone. Nanning's flood-control headquarters said the nearby Yunbiao Reservoir also overtopped and breached, while Liuwang Reservoir in Binyang County overtopped without failing. Hundreds of residents and workers downstream fled to higher ground, rescue crews set up a command post near Dongxu Village and flew drones to reach stranded villagers, and a cross-border railway to Vietnam was halted.
Two people had died and about 48,000 had been evacuated in Nanning as of Monday evening, according to the city's flood-control briefing carried by Xinhua, which put the number of people affected at 55,000. Fifty-nine rivers were still running above their warning marks at 8pm.
Maysak never reached typhoon strength on the Japan Meteorological Agency's scale, peaking as a severe tropical storm, but it hit twice and rained for three days. It crossed China's Hainan Island on Friday evening as the country's first landfalling storm of 2026, made a second landfall near Mong Cai on Vietnam's border with Guangxi on Saturday evening, and had weakened to a depression over Guangxi by midday Sunday. Rain fell on Nanning from Saturday morning until Monday morning.
The response escalated through Monday. Nanning and Guigang raised their city flood emergency responses to Level I, the highest setting, the national flood authority lifted its Guangxi response to Level II, and Beijing allocated 260 million yuan, about US$38 million, for flood and typhoon relief, including 100 million yuan for Guangxi's recovery. More than 1,000 rescuers with boats and drones were deployed alongside 150,000 relief items.
There were early signs of relief by Monday night. Huang Lu, deputy head of Nanning's emergency management bureau, said floodwaters in affected areas were showing signs of receding as of 8pm, according to Xinhua.
Guangxi is draining just as eastern China starts watching a far stronger system. Super Typhoon Bavi, a separate storm that crossed the Northern Mariana Islands as a Category 5 on Monday, is forecast to weaken to Category 3 strength and approach northern Taiwan and Japan's Ryukyu Islands around Friday, with China's coast south of Shanghai in range by about Saturday, according to Yale Climate Connections' reading of the forecast guidance.
The next markers for Guangxi are its river gauges, which were still above warning level at last report. For the east coast, the China Meteorological Administration's Bavi advisories later this week will show whether a second storm arrives before the first has drained.
