Beijing: At least 1,000 people have been killed in China’s central Henan province due to the heaviest rain in 25 years, prompting President Xi Jinping to call on the military on Wednesday to rescue people trapped in submerged subways, hotels and public places. had to be deployed. According to the news of the state newspaper ‘Global Times’, a total of 12.4 lakh people have been affected by the floods and 160,000 people have been rescued.
Official media quoted local officials as saying that 25 people were killed and seven others were missing in the heavy floods. Twelve people died and five others were injured as subway stations were flooded. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that he died on Tuesday night when floodwaters rose on his subway train. Two people died due to the collapse of a wall
Meteorologists say that such havoc of rain is rarely seen. The situation arising out of heavy rains flooded public places and ‘subway tunnels’ in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital with a population of 12.6 million. In a video shared on social media, passengers trapped in the ‘subway’ are seen scared as the water reaches their necks. It is not known whether they were evicted or not.
Some videos were also shared by the official media in which rescue teams are seen helping people trapped in the ‘subway’. Videos have also surfaced of several vehicles getting washed away and people drowning in potholes on the road due to rain. Rain water entered the city’s Line Five subway tunnel, trapping several passengers on a train.
Army deployed for rescue
Xi ordered the deployment of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and asked officials at all levels to ensure the safety of people as the flood situation in Zhengzhou city worsened, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. According to the news, the People’s Liberation Army Central Theater Command has sent troops to the affected Henan province, where a dam is expected to collapse anytime if it is damaged by heavy rains.
The PLA, on its official account on social media platform Weibo, said a 20-metre-long crack appeared in the dam in Yichuan province of Henan province and could collapse at any time. Henan’s Provincial Meteorological Department reported that the provincial capital Zhengzhou received an average of 457.5 mm of rain in 24 hours on Tuesday, according to a report by the state-run news agency ‘Xinhua’. This is the highest rainfall in a single day since meteorological records were kept.
According to reports, traffic in the city came to a standstill due to waterlogging at many places. More than 80 bus services had to be suspended, over 100 routes were diverted and ‘subway’ services have also been temporarily suspended. Police officials, fire brigade personnel and other local sub-district personnel are engaged in rescue work on the spot, the news said. The water in the ‘subway’ is receding and passengers are safe for the time being. More than 160 trains were stopped at Zhengzhoudong Railway Station.
260 flights to and from Zhengzhou airport have been cancelled. At the same time, local railway officials have also stopped some trains or changed their timings. Electricity and drinking water services were also suspended at some places in the city affected by the storm. Henan Provincial and Zhengzhou Municipal Bureau of Meteorology has raised the level of emergency response for meteorological disasters to one. Heavy rain is expected in Henan till Wednesday night.
Heavy loss of life
According to the news of ‘Post’, meteorologists said that such heavy rains have happened in 1000 years. Due to this there is no electricity in the hospitals. Xinhua quoted President Xi as saying that the rains were making it difficult to deal with the flood situation. Huge amounts of water flooded Zhengzhou and other cities. The water is above the danger mark at some places and some dams have also been damaged. Train services have been suspended at some places and some flights have also been cancelled.
The Zhengzhou Flood Control Headquarters issued a message on Wednesday to residents living there, describing a serious threat to security in the Guozizhui Reservoir and asking them to evacuate the area immediately. Xinhua quoted President Xi as saying that the rain had made the flood control situation very serious, causing severe waterlogging in Zhengzhou and other cities, raising the water level in some rivers to alarming levels and damaging the dams of some reservoirs. has reached.
He said that sections of railways were closed and some flights have also been cancelled. Xi ordered authorities at all levels to deploy relief forces, provide housing to the affected, prevent disasters and minimize loss of life and property.
This is the main reason behind such a terrible flood
The South China Morning Post has reported that the oncoming Typhoon In-fa is responsible for the heavy rains. The gale, accompanied by wind currents, carried atmospheric water, concentrating on the city of Zhengzhou, which is surrounded by the Taihang and Funiu mountains.
However, China’s floods are not unprecedented. Every year there would be severe waterlogging in the country causing damage to life and property. However, over the years, the impact has worsened with climate change and rapid urbanization. As more land is covered with impervious concrete, the risk of surface waterlogging increases. Last year, floods in the country left more than 200 people dead or missing and caused $25 billion indirect damage.
The city of Zhengzhou is situated on the banks of the Yellow River, the second-longest river in China, which is another reason why floods in the region are difficult to control. The country has relied on man-made dams and reservoirs to reduce floods, but with excessive rainfall, the dams are unable to hold water. Authorities in the past have also raised concerns over the strength of the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric station on the Yangtze River, as rains become heavy over the years.
According to Li Shuo, a climate analyst at Greenpeace East Asia, the floods “set off alarm bells for China that climate change is here,” news agency AFP reported. Another expert, Benjamin Horton, director of the Singapore Earth Observatory, said that with global warming, there is more moisture in the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in heavy rains.
