A street in Baoan District

Last month, the quality of Guangzhou’s drainage system was called into question after the downtown area was severely flooded due to heavy rain. Now it is the turn of Shenzhen’s western area after basements were flooded, shops were forced to close and roads were blocked in Shenzhen’s western area after the city’s drainage system was unable to cope with heavy rain at the weekend, Nandu Daily reports.

Flooding reached over a metre in some parts as subway construction and a poor drainage system were blamed for the heavy floods in Baoan District, Nanshan District and Longhua New Zone.

At least 20 shops on the busy Xixiang Walking Street had to close due to their stock being soaked and by midday on Sunday, 20 cars on the street were stuck in water.

A woman in Xixiang in Baoan District

Sanitation workers at Shenzhen Baoan Stadium Subway Station, an intersection between the Luobao and Huanzhong lines, said if the rain had continued for another hour, the station itself would have been in severe danger of flooding.

80 property owners in Taihua Yangguang community said their basements were flooded with around half a metre of water, and one said it took more than two hours to pump it out.

Cars were also stuck on 107 Road and two children had to be rescued by firefighters.

Nanshan District’s Shahe West Road’s Baimang Village junction was under a metre of water. Four lanes were completely paralysed as a result.

The junction between Fulong Road and Jianshang Road.

The junction between Fulong Road and Jianshang Road resembled the Yellow River, according to one driver. The driver’s car stalled and he fled before the situation got worse.

Between 9:38 and 10:38 on Sunday morning, Xixiang Matou meteorological station recorded 74.5 mm of rain.