Vehicles were seen navigating a waterlogged road in the Taklimakan Desert, China’s largest desert, located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. This unusual occurrence has prompted extensive discussions on social media.
Video footage shared online captured vehicles driving through the flooded area, with significant water accumulation on both sides of the highway.
The Taklimakan Desert, situated in the central Tarim Basin of southern Xinjiang and bordered by the Tianshan, Kunlun, and Altun Mountains, typically receives less than 100 millimeters of rainfall annually, while experiencing evaporation rates as high as 3,000 millimeters.
Experts note that flooding in this desert area is not entirely unprecedented. During early to mid-August, southern Xinjiang experienced prolonged high temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius, with some localities surpassing 40 degrees Celsius. This heatwave contributed to the melting of nearby glaciers and snow.
Additionally, the western part of southern Xinjiang saw frequent rainfall, particularly in mountainous areas, leading to mixed flooding, according to Lv Xinsheng from the Xinjiang Meteorological Bureau. Between August 20 and 24, several tributaries of the Tarim River surpassed flood warning levels, causing water to overflow into the desert dunes.
Residents have taken to social media, commenting that the increased water levels may help restore desert vegetation. However, experts caution that the desert’s arid conditions remain unchanged, as the water quickly seeps away and the terrain has a low capacity for water retention.