9 July 2020

Shimen County, Hunan Province: a 3 million cubic metre rainfall triggered landslide

Posted by Dave Petley

Shimen County, Hunan Province: a 3 million cubic metre rainfall triggered landslide

Heavy rainfall continues to fall across a swathe of Southern China, causing landslides and floods.  This morning the national observatory has issued orange rainfall warnings for Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan and Guizhou, forecasting up to 280 mm of rainfall, with peak intensities of over 70 mm per hour.  This is landslide-inducing levels of precipitation.

In Shimen County in Hunan Province the rainfall has triggered a very large landslide that has destroyed five houses.  The landslide was caught on video, uploaded to Youtube. It is something of a medley of segments, but nonetheless captures failures from the rear scarp and the flow behaviour of the main mass.

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There is a longer and more detailed version of this video on Youtube too.  You will need to forgive the loud and unnecessary music, but it captures the movement of the main body of the slide well:

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I have struggled to find a decent image of the landslide – this is the best that I have managed so far, from the start of the video (and hence the play arrow):-

Shimen County landslide

The landslide at Shimen County in China. Still from a Youtube video.

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Quickslide 1: A fatal landslide in Hubei province

Meanwhile, a landslide buried nine people yesterday  in Yuanshan Village of Dahe Township, Huangmei County in Hubei province, again triggered by heavy rainfall.  Xinhua reports that one of the victims has been recovered alive, whilst four remain buried.

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Quickslide 2: The aftermath of the Myanmar jade mine landslide

Interestingly, there are news reports that the Myanmar Government is taking action to identify those responsible for the jade mine landslide in Myanmar, which killed over 160 people.  The Khmer Times reports that two high ranking military officers, the Kachin Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Nay Lin Tun and an unnamed officer, have been dismissed. ECNS reports that a formal investigation of the landslide is under way.