- Heavy rain flooded the subway in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, killing 12 people.
- The heavy rain in Henan Province poured down, the dam burst and the river embankment was washed away.
- Local government officials said that about 200,000 urban residents were evacuated, and soldiers led rescue efforts in this city with a population of more than 10 million.
Heavy rain flooded the subway in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, killing 12 people. Shocking images showed passengers struggling in chest-high water inside train cars.
According to official media reports on Wednesday morning, with Henan Province’s dams and river banks bursting, Henan Province experienced record downpours. President Xi Jinping described the situation as “extremely severe” and flood control measures have entered a “critical stage”.
Local government officials said that about 200,000 urban residents have been evacuated. In this city with a population of more than 10 million, soldiers are leading rescue efforts. The streets and subways have been flooded by the rain in the past few days.
Zhengzhou City officials said in a Weibo post that heavy rains flooded Zhengzhou’s subway, causing 12 deaths, 5 injuries and hundreds of people rescued from the subway.
Nerve-torn images shared on social media show that shocked passengers are struggling with the rapidly rising sea water in the train cars. According to local media reports, rescuers cut the roof of the carriage and pulled people to safety.
Others showed Zhengzhou’s dramatic performances of saving pedestrians from the torrents that gush from the streets.
As communication with the city was interrupted, relatives outside the city anxiously requested information on China’s Weibo.
“Is the second floor in danger? My parents live there, but I cannot contact them by phone,” one user wrote.
“I don’t know much about their situation. I’m in Tianjin, and my parents are in Zhengzhou,” she said. When contacted by AFP, her surname was Hou.
“I am very anxious.”
As floods continue to hit the area, the authorities have issued the highest level of warning to Henan Province.
On Wednesday, as the scale of the disaster continued to expand, the Chinese military warned that a dam affected by the disaster, about an hour away from Zhengzhou City, “may collapse at any time” after being severely damaged in heavy rains.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army regional troops warned on Tuesday that the relentless downpour had caused a 20-meter dam breach on the Yihetan Dam in Luoyang, a city of about 7 million people.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Central Theater Command stated that it had sent soldiers to conduct emergency response such as blasting and flood distribution.
“On July 20, a 20-meter dam breach occurred at the Yihe Beach Dam… the river bank was severely damaged,” it added in the statement.
As the floods spread in Henan and warnings that other dams were approaching breaches were issued, soldiers have been deployed to other nearby rivers to reinforce the dikes with sandbags.
According to a CCTV report, Chinese President Xi Jinping said: “The dams of some reservoirs have burst…causing serious casualties and property losses.”
“We have entered the stage of flood control, and leading cadres at all levels must… take the lead in commanding and quickly organize flood control and disaster relief forces.”
Floods during the rainy season in China each year cause chaos and wash away roads, crops and houses.
But over the decades, this threat has worsened, partly because the extensive construction of dams and levees cut the link between the river and neighboring lakes and destroyed the floodplains that had helped absorb summer tides.
Scientists say that climate change is also exacerbating floods and other increasingly extreme weather patterns around the world.
According to the authorities, the rainfall in the area is the highest on record 60 years ago, and the rainfall in Zhengzhou in just three days is equivalent to the average rainfall in a year.
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