I’m China’s transport ministry reported that weeks of extreme rainfall have caused widespread destruction to road networks, inflicting more than 16 billion yuan (US $2.24 billion) in damage across 23 provinces, regions, and municipalities. The downpours, which began at the start of the flood season on July 1, have battered over two-thirds of the country.

To ease the crisis, Beijing has allocated 540 million yuan in emergency subsidies for road repairs. Since April, the central government has also deployed a broader 5.8 billion yuan disaster relief fund to support recovery from multiple natural disasters.

The scale of losses is staggering. In July alone, a combination of floods, landslides, earthquakes, and droughts inflicted 52.2 billion yuan in economic damage nationwide. The mounting toll highlights the growing fiscal pressure on local governments already weighed down by debt and sluggish economic growth.

With extreme weather events intensifying, China faces a dual challenge: repairing critical infrastructure while safeguarding public finances that are increasingly stretched thin.