Kaifeng is located on the south bank of the Yellow River, prone to violent flooding throughout its history.
in the hopes of using the floodwaters to break the six-month siege the city had endured from the peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng.
On October 8, 1642, Li's men cut the dikes, and a rain-swollen Yellow River burst through with a tremendous war, flooding Kaifeng..."[3] Harry Miller of the University of South Alabama wrote that "Both sides tried to puncture the dikes on the Yellow River, in order to enlist flood as an ally.
[citation needed] After this disaster the city was abandoned until 1662 when it was rebuilt under the rule of the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing dynasty.
[6] It remained a rural backwater city of diminished importance and experienced several other less devastating floods.