An excavator became the unlikely hero of the day by rescuing several pigs swept away by floodwaters in China.
Footage of the scene in Guangxi province, which went viral on Tuesday (July 7), depicted the heavy machinery carefully plucking each floating animal from the water, just like a claw machine game.
The video shows pigs floating helplessly before the excavator carefully lifted them from the water and placed them on dry land. Onlookers can be seen cheering on the rescue effort.
The livestock were swept downstream when Typhoon Maysak hit the region, reported Chinese media outlet Global Times.
This comes just a day after some 900 snakes housed in breeding facilities were washed away to the residential areas of Hengzhou city.
Some of the reptiles attempted to enter houses, and a villager told media outlet Litchi News that more than a dozen people had been bitten.
Highly venomous cobras were reportedly among the snakes on the loose.
@asiaone An unusual rescue mission unfolded in flood-hit China on Tuesday (July 7) after an excavator was used to save pigs trapped in rising floodwaters. The heart-stopping operation has captured the attention of netizens around the world. #news #China #Floods #Pigs ♬ original sound - AsiaOne
Typhoon Maysak has wreaked havoc upon Guangxi after it first made landfall on China's southernmost island province of Hainan last week.
At least six people have died in Guangxi as of July 9, said officials, with 375,000 others affected by floods in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi. The death toll is expected to rise.
China's National Climate Centre expects up to six typhoons to form in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea in July, more than the average of 3.8. Amongst them is Super Typhoon Bavi, expected to arrive in China on Saturday as the second tropical cyclone in a week.
Measuring more than 1,000 km across, Bavi briefly made landfall on Monday over the US island of Rota in the Western Pacific with winds of up to 290kmh.
"The severe impacts of Maysak and the looming threat of Super Typhoon Bavi indicate that the 2026 season is more intense and damaging than a typical year," said Hui Su, chair professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
"El Nino is shifting typhoon tracks westward toward China's coast and heightening risks, while climate change makes storms wetter and more destructive."
Last week, the United Nations weather agency raised its forecast for the rapid development of a strong El Nino event in the coming months.
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