Compound climate extremes and “once-in-a-century” risk communication

In July 2026, China's national meteorological and water resources authorities issued red alerts for flash floods and geological hazards across Liaoning, Jilin, and Anhui provinces, the ceiling of the country's four-level warning system, as the remnant circulation of Typhoon Bavi pushed torrential rain into the northeast, a region not historically associated with typhoon-driven flooding of this scale.1–3 Days earlier, Tropical Storm Maysak had triggered reservoir breaches and large-scale evacuations more than 1500 km to the south, in Guangxi.