More than 40,000 people have been evacuated from Chongqing as the central Chinese city was hit by its worst floods since records began in 1940.

A red alert was issued by Chongqing’s official hydrological observatory just before noon on Monday, indicating that a record-high level flood would hit areas in Chongqing in the next eight hours. This is the first time a red alert has been issued since the observatory opened.

The first peak of the flood — flowing at record-high level — passed through Qijiang River at 3:30pm. It was expected that the highest water level at a monitoring station in the Jiangjin District would be between 5.7 and 6.3 meters over the flood control level. This was an increase of 11 meters compared to the normal level.

Chongqing’s anti-flood command decided by 3pm on Monday to raise the anti-flood emergency response level from three to four, after roads, houses and shops along Qijiang River were flooded.

Traffic was brought to a standstill on Xiabei Street as houses and roads were badly flooded, with several bridges above the Qijiang River closed. Schools were also shut due to flooding, with rail tracks transporting coal shutting due to blockages of mud and rocks. Several roads in Fengjie county near Chongqing also reportedly collapsed.

Twenty four provinces in China have recently suffered from severe flooding due to heavy rain.

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