During the 2025 flood season, members of the city’s professional emergency rescue team carry out drainage operations in Banan District. (Photo: CQRB)
Chongqing - On April 28, Jiang Jin, deputy director of the Municipal Emergency Management Bureau, said the city will enter its annual flood season on May 1 with a four-pillar strategy covering accountability, universal warnings, rescue readiness, and digital transformation.
Chongqing typically begins its flood season in May because it marks the transition into the East Asian rainy season, when warm, moist air from the south meets cooler air masses and triggers frequent and intense rainfall. The city’s complex mountainous terrain and dense river network, including the Yangtze and its tributaries, further amplify runoff and water accumulation, making it more prone to flooding during this period.
Accountability comes first: before the flood season, the city released a responsibility list naming 40 flood and drought control heads, 55 officials for major rivers and reservoirs, and 201 commanders, all entered into the digital emergency system.
Preventive measures focus on two areas: delivering warnings to every household and strict risk management. Chongqing has built a tiered early warning system linked to grassroots governance, collected over 30,000 risk records, and placed more than 6,000 key risks under dynamic monitoring to ensure timely alerts and controlled risks.
In terms of rescue readiness, over 30,000 rescuers and 2,000 vehicles are on 24-hour standby, forming a rapid response network capable of reaching any location by air within one hour, by ground within 30 minutes, and via community spotters within 10 minutes. The city has also stockpiled equipment and conducted over 3,100 drills in high-risk areas to ensure rapid, effective response and life-saving capability.
Meanwhile, digital transformation turns disaster response from experience-driven to intelligence-driven. It integrates intelligent risk assessment, multi‑level coordination, space‑air‑ground integrated communication, and automated strategy delivery, ensuring command continuity even when roads, networks, or power are cut. With these digital capabilities, Chongqing is ready for any extreme scenario.
Citizens are urged to stay alert, avoid dangerous zones, and obey evacuation orders. “Flood season brings many risks, but with everyone’s cooperation, we can keep our city safe,” Jiang Jin said.
(Wanqing Lu, as an intern, also contributed to the report.)