At the stretch adjoining the Yellow River the earth split open, turbid water surged back, submerging good fields and villages.
On the ninth day of the second month, in Xingzhou State and Mingzhou, torrential rain fell for days on end, mountain torrents broke forth, the Zhang River and the Fuyang River overflowed together, bursting through the dikes for dozens of li, drowning dwellings and crops beyond count; more than two thousand people were drowned or went missing, and tens of thousands became refugees.
In March, the Jingji Road region, which ought to have been warming again, was suddenly struck by a rare "reverse spring cold": heavy snow mixed with hail piled up over a foot deep, many roof tiles in the city were damaged, and outside the city most wheat shoots and mulberry trees were killed by frost; the chill pushed south, affecting the Two Huai regions as well.
