Why did the Huang He (yellow) River flood in 1931?
The Huang He carries a lot of sediment and silt. As a flood prevention measure the Chinese had raised levees along the river and as the year progressed these had to be made higher. Eventually the river was running higher than the surrounding lands. On the 19th of August 1931 the Jiujiang River rose 17 m above normal due to heavy rainfall over several weeks and this pushed a flood crest in to the Huang He. There are Hundreds of tributaries to the Huang He and since July these had been pushing their own flood surges down into the the Huang He . The levees could not contain the water and the plains were flooded with huge torrents of water that washed away villages and farms. The flood was followed by famine and disease and the population was unprepared and the government unable to cope. There was civil war going on at the time between the communists and the nationalists. and in the September the Japanese invaded. There have been worse floods that on the river 1954 and 1998 but fewer peopl
