The Yangtze River has naturally flooded for thousands of years, given the basin borders a mountainous region that deposits melted snow into the river every spring and summer (via Story Maps). Decades of human interference, from the construction of dams to dumping pollution, made the flooding worse. With an unusually cold winter the year before adding extra snow to the mountains, coupled with the torrential rain of the spring and summer of 1931, the conditions were a cruelly perfect storm that led to maximum destruction and devastation.

Up to 50 million people were affected by the flooding, with 2 million dying months after the river spilled over from exposure or starvation. Over a third of China’s provinces were damaged by the flooding, and roughly 10% of the population was displaced. The walls of Wuhan collapsed, and several cities were without power as the river basin turned into a lake. Those who survived the flooding were left to struggle for food, water, shelter, medicine, and transportation. Today, modern techniques to control the waters of the Yangtze River will, hopefully, prevent such a disaster on this scale again.