A section of the Houzihe Bridge, located on the G76 Xiarong Expressway in Sandu County, Guizhou Province (southwest China), collapsed on Tuesday morning following a landslide triggered by heavy and continuous rainfall. According to local media and the Guizhou Daily, no casualties were reported.
The day began with an early warning issued to the transportation authorities, who discovered a deformation in the bridge structure during a routine inspection at 5:51 a.m. In response, a preventive traffic closure was implemented on the uphill lanes and later extended to both directions by 7:11 a.m. However, traffic had not yet been fully halted, and a truck was nearly involved in a disaster—left hanging on the edge of the collapse with the driver trapped inside. The man was safely rescued without injuries.
The affected bridge, known as the Houzihe Grand Bridge, is a key transportation link in the region. Its collapse occurred amid days of persistent rainfall that had saturated the soil and heightened the risk of landslides throughout southwest China. According to the Guizhou Daily, the landslide was the determining factor in the failure of the already weakened structure.
At the time of the collapse, only one vehicle was on the bridge. Below, three cars belonging to a nearby construction site were parked. A drone inspection confirmed that no one was inside those vehicles, preventing what could have been a far greater tragedy. Local authorities emphasized that no casualties were reported and praised the effectiveness of the preventive and evacuation measures taken.
“An investigation into the cause of the collapse is underway, and follow-up efforts have begun,” said emergency response officials, adding that their top priority is to restore traffic flow and ensure public safety in the affected area.
The collapse of the Houzihe Bridge was not the only weather-related incident in Guizhou that day. On Tuesday morning, the Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters in Rongjiang County issued an emergency evacuation order due to rising water levels from upstream rainfall.
Authorities warned that the Pingyong, Zhaihao, and Duliu rivers had surged past the thresholds of a so-called “30-year flood,” posing unprecedented pressure on flood control teams.
“The forecast shows that all three rivers have exceeded the levels of a once-in-30-years flood,” said the Rongjiang County government, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing local authorities.
The situation in Guizhou underscores the vulnerability of rural infrastructure and communities in the face of increasingly extreme weather events driven by climate change.