Severe flooding across southern and central China has triggered an unusual crisis in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where between 800 and 900 venomous snakes — including cobras, kraits, and green pit vipers — escaped from a commercial breeding farm in Hengzhou after rising floodwaters destroyed its enclosures. The incident, which local authorities confirmed, prompted urgent public safety warnings and a fast-tracked medical response for snakebite victims.
A video shared by Chinese state media, showing local residents using dip nets to catch snakes while a cobra reared its head above a torrent of muddy water, went viral. One villager, who was bitten by a cobra while clearing debris from the ground floor of his home, told Beijing News: "Hundreds of snakes escaped all at once. I've seen five or six." A local doctor confirmed treating multiple snakebite patients since the flooding began. Authorities in Hengzhou issued emergency guidance warning that the snakes could shelter in homes, stairwells, building corners, and along riverbanks. Anti-venom supplies were increased and a dedicated snakebite treatment channel was opened at Hengzhou People's Hospital. One snakebite fatality was reported by local media, though the hospital declined to confirm the death officially.
The snake crisis is one consequence of a far broader disaster. In Guangxi, two reservoirs — including one near the town of Liulan — experienced breaches, unleashing torrents of muddy water that swept away homes, vehicles, and livestock. Residents described the flooding as unprecedented in living memory. "In hundreds of years, it is the first time the water has reached the second floor," said Bi Yunchun, a resident of Gantang town. Some properties near the Liulan reservoir were reduced to their foundations. Around 130,000 people have been evacuated across Guangxi, and some 600 residents remain stranded in isolated areas, receiving food and supplies by boat and drone. Several residents said they had received no warning before the waters surged. "If we had been alerted, we would not have had so many losses," one man told reporters.
The death toll from storms across China has climbed to at least 39, with nine people still missing. Beyond the snake farm, a zoo in Guigang — a city in Guangxi — appealed to the public to help locate roughly 100 animals that escaped when its facilities were damaged, including alpacas, pygmy pigs, and zebras. A landslide in the central province of Gansu killed 21 people, while tornadoes and thunderstorms in Hubei province claimed at least 11 more lives. President Xi Jinping called for "all-out" rescue efforts as authorities deployed emergency personnel, medical specialists, and militia volunteers across affected areas.
China's summer months regularly bring devastating floods and storms to its southern and central regions, but the combination of typhoon-driven rainfall, reservoir failures, and the mass escape of venomous snakes from commercial farms — an industry common in southern China — has made this episode exceptionally severe. With Supertyphoon Bavi forecast to make landfall along the eastern coast, near the provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang south of Shanghai, by the weekend, authorities are bracing for further disruption.