Refer China: Son Swims 3 Hours Through Guangxi Floods to Reach Parents

Man swims 3 hours through Guangxi floods using tires to check on parents. Video hits 2M views, removed for dangerous behavior. Floods killed 39.

Tags:

Guangxi Floods

Flood Rescue

Family Devotion

Viral Video

Dangerous Behavior

Millions of internet users in China have been deeply moved by the story of a 30-year-old man who swam through turbulent floodwaters for three hours to reach his parents’ village and confirm their safety amid catastrophic flooding in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Son Swims 3 Hours Through Guangxi Floods to Reach Parents

Triggered by relentless downpours and multiple dam breaches, the devastating floods in southern Guangxi have claimed 39 lives and impacted nearly 400,000 residents. Between July 3 and 6, southern parts of the region recorded cumulative rainfall of 400 to 600 millimetres, while Qinzhou city endured more than 800 millimetres of precipitation.

On July 6, the man surnamed Xie set off with a friend. Clinging to truck tyres for buoyancy, the pair swam through floodwaters toward a village in Qinzhou to locate Xie’s parents. Xie and his two siblings reside in town, while his parents live roughly 10 kilometres away in the inundated village.

The ordeal began the night before, when Xie’s mother called to say his 63-year-old father had left home to safeguard harvested rice and had not come back. Floodwater had submerged village buildings up to the first floor. Power outages triggered by the worsening storm disrupted mobile phone signals, cutting off all further communication. Tormented by fears his father could be swept away by the current, Xie could not sleep a wink.

The family owns two village homes: one built on higher ground on a hillside that escaped flooding, and another house where the harvested grain was stored, which became submerged. His father had headed out to shift the rice to the first floor to protect it.

Xie and his companion purchased two new truck tyres in town for the perilous voyage. The final kilometre of the journey alone took them one hour of swimming. When they finally arrived, they found the rising floodwaters had trapped his father on the upper storey of the rice storage house.

“When he saw me, he smiled. But the first thing I did was scold him for risking his life over rice,” Xie recounted. He then led his father along a narrow trail behind the building to the dry mountain residence. Upon seeing her son soaked from head to toe, Xie’s mother broke down in tears and reprimanded him for undertaking such a dangerous trip.

After ensuring his parents were safe, Xie headed back to town, a return swim that lasted another two hours. He explained he needed to go back to run his two local businesses, and stay connected so he could coordinate rescue teams for the village if further help became necessary.

Though Xie learned to swim from childhood, he admitted the frigid, churning floodwaters terrified him, and the three-hour crossing left him utterly exhausted.

He captured clips of the journey and shared them online. His selfless devotion to his family and raw footage of the flood disaster struck a chord with countless viewers. The video racked up nearly two million views and over 20,000 likes, before the platform took it down, labelling the stunt “dangerous behaviour”.

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Editor: Crystal H