The 1938 flood on the Yellow River was a man made event, caused when the Nationalist Army under Chiang blew up the Yellow River levees on the south bank of the river at Huayuankou. The aim was to divert the water back into the channel south of the Shandong Peninsula that the river had occupied prior to 1855 in order to interrupt the progress of the invading Japanese army. It caused little trouble for the Japanese but killed nearly a million Chinese who lived in the area affected. No warning was given. The flood ended with the reconstruction of the levee after the end of the second world war in 1946.

In its flood plain

1938

The Yangtze River and the Yellow River (Huang He)

the river sat abouve the surrounding countryside<======