THIS is the moment floodwaters surge through a shopping centre in southwest China – as the region faces its highest flood levels in decades.

Murky torrents pour down from escalators and upper floors, sweeping away shop objects, as cars are dragged into underground garages in dramatic scenes.

In footage filmed on Tuesday at the largest shopping mall in Rongjiang County, Guizhou, torrents of water can be seen cascading down escalators and upper floors.

Various objects – some appearing to be items of clothing, others chairs – are dragged into the currents.

In separate clips, cars are dragged into underground garages as a result of the torrential floods that submerged much of the city.

The alert was raised on Friday when continuous heavy rains drove the water level of the Rongjiang River to 114.6 metres.

On Tuesday, authorities in Rongjiang raised the flood alert to its highest level, warning that river levels could peak at 255 metres.

The county – which has a population of about 300,000 – has not seen these flood levels in 30 years, according to newspaper China Daily.

Resident Wu Hanjun told the newspaper on Tuesday afternoon: “The rain has stopped now, but the floodwaters are still quite high and expected to rise.”

Residents in most of the old town and parts of the new district were reportedly told to move to higher-ground shelters on Tuesday, as per an evacuation order.

China experiences regular flooding during the summer due to the East Asian monsoon, which brings heavy, continuous rainfall from June to August.

Warm, moist air from the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean also feeds storms, causing rivers to overflow.

It comes as southern China saw torrential rains in April 2024, swelling the Bei River in Guangdong by up to 19 feet above warning levels.

Over 110,000 residents were evacuated, and more than a million households experienced power outages.

Shocking footage shows cars being swept away by powerful flood currents.

Photos also reveal vehicles submerged in water and rescue workers carrying people through chest-deep floodwaters out of buildings.

In July 2021, floods devastated Zhengzhou, in China’s Henan province flooded – after the heaviest rainfall recorded in over a millennium in that region.

The rains submerged parts of the city, including subway lines.

Distressing footage shows panicked passengers trapped in Zhengzhou’s subway – flooded to shoulder-deep levels – texting their final goodbyes.

Hundreds of people had to be rescued as carriages became submerged.

At least 25 people died as a result of the floods in central China, while over 100,000 were forced to flee as cities became submerged.