China: record bad weather kills at least 16, floods metro

Floods "extremely serious" by President Xi Jinping himself: China is facing torrential rains that have killed at least 16 people, most of them in the metro of a large city in the center of the country. With images of passengers clinging to the handles as the water rises in their oars, scenes of chaos Tuesday in Zhengzhou, a city of 10 million people 700 km south of Beijing, sowed concern in the city. country. The army was called in to reinforce Zhengzhou (pronounced: "djangue-djo"), capital of the densely populated province of Henan, which received in three days almost the equivalent of a year of rain.

As of Wednesday morning, no less than 200,000 inhabitants had to be evacuated, announced the town hall, specifying that 36,000 people were "affected" by the floods. The city "has experienced a series of unusually violent thunderstorms, causing water to accumulate in the Zhengzhou metro," local authorities said on the Weibo social network, adding that 12 people were killed and five others. had been injured. The metropolis has been placed on red alert. This is the highest alert level for weather in China.

National CCTV television showed streets submerged in a huge current of muddy water, as residents with knee-deep water pushed their vehicles through flooded arteries.

On Wednesday, the bad weather caused landslides in the neighboring town of Gongyi.

Houses and walls have collapsed there, according to the official New China news agency.

According to this source, at least four people died.

Submerged metro

On Tuesday, the situation appeared most dramatic in the metro. Videos on social media, the authenticity of which has not been verified, showed passengers of a wagon hanging from the handles, as water rushes to their shoulders, and others standing on the seats. Images broadcast by public television CCTV showed water invading the deserted platform of a station. A passenger told on Weibo that rescuers had opened the roof of his train to allow the evacuation, one by one, of the passengers. Other footage showed a passenger seated on the roof of his wagon half-submerged in a tunnel.

#China is facing "extremely serious" flooding, said President Xi Jinping, after the news of 12 deaths in the metro in the big city of #Zhengzhou, in the center of the country.

200,000 people were evacuated according to the authorities # AFPpic.twitter.com / XPdarhjrD3

- Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 21, 2021

Red alert # torrential rains in # Zhengzhou # henan # china metro flooded victims @ francetvchine @ GaelC21 @ franceinfo @ infofrance2 @ infofrance3pic.twitter.com / 4BHZqj6w3d

- Arnauld Miguet (@arnauldmiguet) July 20, 2021

Relatives of Zhengzhou residents expressed concern.

"Is the first floor (of the apartments) in danger? My parents live there but I cannot reach them," wrote one Weibo user.

"I'm very worried".

President Xi Jinping called for mobilization in the face of bad weather.

"Dams have collapsed, causing serious injuries, deaths and damage. The situation on the flood front is extremely serious," he said, according to statements reported by national television.

Military to the rescue

Also in Henan, near the former capital of Luoyang, the army announced that a dam threatens to collapse, after the appearance of a breach of 20 meters in the structure.

Luoyang, west of Zhengzhou, has a population of around seven million.

The Yihetan dam "may give way at any moment," the military warned on Tuesday.

Soldiers deployed along other waterways in the region to reinforce the banks with sandbags.

The military said on Wednesday that blasting operations had allowed water from the Yihetan Dam to drain.

The water level has dropped and the situation is now "under control", she said.

According to Chinese authorities, the rains in the region were the heaviest on record since weather phenomena began to be compiled 60 years ago.

Floods hit China regularly during the summer, with a death toll that reached several thousand in 1998 in the Yangtze region, further south.

Both Zhengzhou and Luoyang are close to the Yellow River, whose floods have often been deadly in Chinese history.

Scientists also believe that climate change is increasing the risk of flooding around the world.