Abstract: In this article, we census the light and medium flood events in Yichang for 1981-2012, and found that the flood events presented a regular changes:excessive in 1980s, decreased in 1990s and increased in 2000s. The earliest flood case become earlier and earlier, but the last one become latter and latter. The rainfall of floods in the flooding areas appeared as same periodic variation. The floods account to 97% in June to September, in which the flood events, increased from west to east in June, uniform-distributed in July, and obviously different in August and September. The rainfall of floods in the flooding area occurred slightly differences, while the distribution and of heavy rainfall was more complex. Mastering the distribution characteristics of flood rainfall in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River may provide a scienti fi c basis for the dispatch of small and medium flood in the Three Gorges Reservoir.