Tourists Scrambled to Safety as Mudslides Ravage Jiuzhaigou, China’s Fairy‑Tale World Heritage Site

On Monday, an unsettling cascade of mudslides ripped through Jiuzhaigou, the famed UNESCO World Heritage park in southwestern Sichuan. The sudden deluge, sparked by relentless summer rain, left a handful of tourists stranded amid the park’s iconic turquoise pools and towering waterfalls.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that officials swiftly moved to close off the most affected sections – including the Arrow Bamboo Lake area in the Rize Valley and the entire Zechawa Valley – and began shepherding visitors out of the danger zone. Rescue teams, equipped with sturdy boots and high‑visibility jackets, escorted the bewildered travelers along winding paths, reassuring them that safety was the top priority.

The mudslides are part of a broader wave of extreme weather sweeping China this week. Typhoon Noul, the strongest storm to hit the country this year, has dumped torrential rain across the south and central regions, prompting the Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration to issue a red‑level flash‑flood warning for provinces such as Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and southeastern Xinjiang.

Jiuzhaigou, celebrated for its multi‑coloured lakes, snow‑capped peaks and cascading waterfalls, is no stranger to the perils of a rainy season. Yet the intensity of this year’s precipitation has pushed the landscape past its usual limits, turning steep river valleys into slick, unstable corridors.

Tragically, the country has already felt the grim toll of the season’s floods. In Chongqing, a massive landslide claimed 11 lives, leaving 50 people missing. Gansu province saw 21 fatalities after a landslide struck the remote county of Tanchang, while flash floods at a scenic camping spot in Weiyuan killed 10 tourists and injured 23 more. A separate loess‑soil collapse in Shanxi buried a house, taking five lives.

These incidents underscore the timing of China’s “Qixia Bashang” – the peak flood‑control window that runs from mid‑July to mid‑August. Meteorologists warn that extreme rainfall is set to become more frequent and more intense, with northern regions expected to receive 20‑50% more precipitation than normal in the weeks ahead.

For now, the focus in Jiuzhaigou is on ensuring every visitor makes it out unharmed. Park officials have promised to keep the public informed as conditions evolve, and to reopen the closed valleys once safety can be guaranteed.