What caused the Yellow River flood of 1887?

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Yellow River basin and Yangtze River basin — Yellow River The Yellow River (Huang He) basin and the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) basin and their drainage networks.

The 1887 flood of the Yellow River was caused by the river bursting its levees near Kaifeng.2

The Huang He is historically prone to flooding due to its heavy silt load, which settles as the river's gradient and velocity decrease on the North China Plain. This process elevates the riverbed, requiring the construction of extensive levee systems to contain the water. While these structures delay flooding, they also artificially confine the river; when breaches occur, the resulting floods are often more dramatic and destructive. In the case of the 1887 event, the river burst through these defenses and began flowing into the Huai River, burying many villages under silt and resulting in an estimated 900,000 to 2,000,000 deaths.123