BEIJING – Authorities across northern and western China remain on high alert as relentless torrential rains and flooding continue to batter the country, killing several people, damaging infrastructure, and putting millions at risk.

The latest wave of destruction comes during China’s annual “Plum Rains,” a seasonal weather pattern known for intense downpours. Red alerts—the country’s highest weather warning—were issued Thursday as storms swept from Sichuan province in the southwest through Gansu in the northwest, reaching as far as Liaoning in the northeast.

Train services into Beijing were suspended, and flights at one of the city’s airports were delayed or canceled late Wednesday into Thursday, underscoring the widespread impact of the weather system.

The worsening floods are part of a growing pattern of extreme rainfall events across China that scientists associate with climate change. The consequences are far-reaching: deadly landslides, overwhelmed flood defenses, and mounting threats to China’s $2.8 trillion agricultural sector.

In July of last year alone, weather-related disasters cost China over $10 billion. This year’s rainfall appears poised to rival or exceed that figure.

On Wednesday, in Henan province’s town of Taiping, a river burst its banks following torrential rainfall, killing five people in a flash flood. Three others remain missing. More than 1,000 emergency personnel have been deployed to aid in search and rescue operations.

Further west in Gansu province, two people were killed when heavy rain triggered a landslide at a construction site between Wednesday and Thursday, according to state media reports.

Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, during a two-day visit to Hebei province bordering Henan, called on local authorities to intensify preventive measures. “Evacuate early to minimize casualties,” he urged, as fresh storms loom over the region, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Despite China’s nationwide severe weather monitoring systems, predicting extreme events at a local level remains difficult—particularly in rural areas where warning systems and emergency resources are limited.

In southern Guangxi, the devastation continued as waterlogged hillsides gave way. Several buildings collapsed after their foundations eroded in the saturated soil. In Xinzhou town, dramatic footage confirmed by Reuters captured a five-story building plunging into a river as the ground beneath it suddenly disintegrated.

The collapse followed record flooding of the Lengshui River between June 30 and July 1—its worst in nearly two decades, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. Authorities have since issued public advisories on how to recognize early signs of flash floods.

Nearby in Pingliu Village, located 80 kilometers west of Xinzhou, a landslide on Tuesday forced the evacuation of 21 residents from seven households. Two homes were destroyed and four others damaged.

With the Plum Rains expected to continue through mid-July, China’s emergency services remain on edge, bracing for further destruction while grappling with the increasingly unpredictable nature of extreme weather in the world’s most populous nation.