Image courtesy: efe.com

Wuhan – the city in China where the dreaded coronavirus first originated is now facing another calamity – massive floods.

Till Saturday, eight people have lost their lives to the floods.

The fury of the calamity hasn’t spared the supermarkets, shops, and the streets.

Rainstorm warnings have been issued for the next 31 days, according to reports.

The residents of Wuhan have been asked to stay indoors again.

However, eyebrows are being raised whether the flood is natural.

Reports suggest that the floods are a direct consequence of a heavy discharge of water from reservoirs.

Around 370 kilometres away from Wuhan lies the Three Gorges Dam in the district of Yiling, which has been releasing floodwaters from its spillways.

According to Chinese authorities, the dam is on the verge of collapse forcing the authorities to release the water.

Activists claimed that this move was undertaken intentionally, and that Chinese authorities are deliberately flooding cities in the Hubei province to purge out the evidence against China and its role in the coronavirus pandemic.

On January 23 2020, the city was overwhelmed by an explosion of COVID-19 cases, after which an unprecedented lockdown was imposed on the city’s 11 million residents.

A World Health Organization (WHO) team is scheduled to visit China next week to investigate the origins of the virus, and will probe how the zoonotic virus jumped from animals to humans.