In 1928 to 1930, prior to the floods, there was a long drought in China.

It was one of the most deadly natural disasters ever recorded.

The Yangtze River, The Yellow River, and the Huai River.

What is The 1931 flood formed part of a hydraulic crisis that had been unfolding in the Yangzi basin since the early nineteenth century. Although partly the result of unsustainable patterns of agricultural expansion, Zhang Jiayan argues that this crisis also reflected the entrenched political and economic difficulties experienced by governments during the late Qing and early Republic (1800s to 1928).

The snowstorms were then followed by a spring thaw and heavy rain which raised the water levels considerably. 1 Comment As another part of our series on historic floods, here we look at the devastating floods that hit central China in 1931, one of which hit the Yangtze River with huge loss of life, and that particular flood is thought to be one of the deadliest floods of modern times.

The 1931 China Floods The 1931 China Floods happened between July-November 1931 in Central China. Only the 1998 floods, which resulted in losses of $44 billion (in 2016 dollars), have been more damaging.

The floods came from not one river, but three rivers. By August of 1931, the Yellow, Yangtze, and Huai Rivers had all flooded so badly that most of central China was submerged. Fifty million people were affected when all three of China's greatest rivers combined in a flood of biblical proportions between July and October 1931. Then, heavy snowstorms occurred during the winter of the late 1930s.

In China, flooding is so endemic that only the date is relevant, and 1931 identifies the greatest natural disaster of the 20th century.

As the total economic toll is estimated at more than $22 billion, China’s devastating floods represent the 5 th costliest non-US weather disaster on record. The rain became heavier during July and August, 1931.