Typhoon floods Chinese stadium like a bathtub

This picture taken on July 6, 2016 shows the flooded Xinhua Road Sports Centre Stadium in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province.

STR | AFP | Getty Images

Southern and central China are drowning.

Since June 18, the regions have suffered their worst bout of flooding in a decade, furthered by a category 4 typhoon that hit the mainland after sweeping through Taiwan Friday morning, local time.

Paramilitary policemen rest as they take turns to try to fill up a break in a dam in preparation for Typhoon Nepartak which is approaching China, in Lujiang county, Anhui province, China, July 8, 2016.

Reuters

The storm has brought about 1 to 2 feet of rain in some regions, and gauges have measured winds as fast as 125 miles per hour, according to the Weather Channel.

Since flooding began, 186 people have been reported dead and 45 missing, according to figures reported by the BBC. About 1.4 million people have been evacuated from their homes.

The storm has reportedly weakened, but worries continue that more rain is headed for areas that are already under several inches of water.

Home to 10 million people, the city of Wuhan on the mainland is the most populous city in central China, notes an article in Quartz. It has already been underwater for weeks.

Fishing boats are anchored at a bay as Typhoon Nepartak approaches, in Cangnan, Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, July 7, 2016.

Reuters

Record-setting flood levels have been reached in the city, and there is even enough water falling to fill a local stadium, as seen in the picture above. Part of the problem is the lack of adequate drainage, which a writer for Quartz blames on the city's rapid development. Wuhan was once known as the city of one hundred lakes. But, as Quartz notes, 45 of the city's 127 lakes have been drained or filled since 1949.

The government has committed billions of yuan to combat the problem — about $2 billion worth — but the article reports that corruption has slowed the construction of needed dikes.