On Sunday, heavy rain began falling on Renhe village in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi.

The villagers were used to it. But the rain didn’t stop – and the water suddenly rose.

By the early hours of Monday, the water had reached their knees. By dawn, it had completely submerged the first floor of their homes.

“The floods happened so rapidly, the water just came so fast. The villagers didn’t have time to take food with them when they were running away,” a woman from Renhe, whose surname is Zhou, told the BBC.

Zhou’s family is among tens of thousands of people in Guangxi displaced from their homes since Typhoon Maysak swept the region over the weekend, causing rivers to swell and dam walls to break. At least four people have died.

The typhoon has inundated the city of Nanning and surrounding villages, with residents calling for rescue from their rooftops.

It has also triggered thunderstorms, and even tornadoes, in the central province of Hubei – hundreds of kilometres away.

At least 17 people have died, hundreds more have been injured and tens of thousands have been evacuated, according to state media.

The devastation from days of extreme weather has prompted President Xi Jinping to order “all out” rescue and relief operations.

Typhoons that cause widespread flooding are common in China at this time of the year and Maysak is the first to make landfall in the country for the 2026 season.

State media said it has been characterised by “its sudden onset and intense, short-duration winds”.

Another storm, Super Typhoon Bavi, is churning across the Pacific, on course to hit China’s eastern coast later this week, according to forecasts.

Authorities in Nanning have warned that “extremely heavy rain” could hamper rescue efforts.