The water level at the Ciqikou section of the Jialing River reaches 178 meters in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on July 11, 2024. Photo: VCG

Six people have been killed as of Thursday in Dianjiang county, Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality following torrential rains. The municipality has activated geological disaster and flood control emergency response in multiple districts and counties.

Among the six victims, four died in geological disasters caused by heavy rainfall, and two people drowned, media reported.

The Chongqing Hydrological Monitoring Station reported that from Wednesday to Thursday, heavy rains swept through in 26 districts and counties in Chongqing, while five districts and counties including Changshou and Fengdu countries experienced extreme rainfall levels.

As of Thursday, 15 rivers in Chongqing had exceeded warning levels while four rivers had exceeded safety levels.

The heavy rainfall has impacted 14 townships in Dianjiang county, with a total of 6,985 people displaced or affected. So far, five houses have been destroyed, according to local media reports.

A 40-year-old resident from Dianjiang told the Global Times on Thursday that it is the heaviest rain he has experienced for the first time in his hometown. "Bridges were inundated by the rain, and houses collapsed," he said, noting that some village officials helped residents to evacuate ahead of time after they received warning of the oncoming heavy rainfall.

Dianjiang's Hujiawan was soaked with precipitation measuring 254.6 millimeters, the largest daily precipitation recorded in Dianjiang since its meteorological records began.

Changshou district in Chongqing reported that a total of 669 people were transferred due to the heavy rains, while no casualties had been reported so far. 

China's Ministry of Water Resources announced on Thursday that since Monday, the main rain-affected area in the Yangtze River basin has shifted from the middle and lower reaches of the river toward the upper reaches. 

Over the next 10 days, continuous heavy rainfall was forecast in Southwest China's Sichuan and Chongqing.

On Wednesday, the Three Gorges Dam released floodwater for the first time this year, as water inflow at the Three Gorges reservoir reached 31,000 cubic meters per second on Wednesday.