China: after the floods, villages still under water
Audio 01:22
Residents of Xinxiang in China's Henan Province rescued from flooding on a loader, July 26, 2021. AFP - STR
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
After torrential and devastating rains that hit Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of central Henan last week, the rain subsided this weekend.
But the inhabitants of the villages to the north of the agglomeration are not out of the woods: rivers are overflowing, dams and dikes have given way.
To avoid disasters, the authorities even blew up dikes to divert water in a controlled manner, sacrificing villages to save more populated areas.
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With our special
correspondent in Zhengzhou,
Simon Leplâtre
On the side of the road near Zhaozhuang, north of
Zhengzhou
, it is the exodus.
Forty-year-old Lei Yun is ready to go.
The car is packed: inside, his sons, his nieces and a few things hastily taken away.
Their house was submerged.
“
The dike did not resist,
” she says.
We were on the dike, without food, without water.
The emergency services are currently evacuating people on rubber dinghies.
We all helped to strengthen the dike with bags filled with soil.
We tried to close the gap.
At the time, I was not afraid.
But now that I think about it…
”
Like hundreds of thousands of victims, Lei Yun is in shock.
Despite the return of the sun to Xinxiang, a small town nearby, some neighborhoods are still flooded.
In the main street, surrounded by water, help distributes food.
Dozens of residents take advantage of an electric generator to recharge their smartphones.
►
To read also: China: after the floods, the pumping of water has started
"
During the flood,
I didn't dare fall asleep at night
"
“
There is no more water, no more electricity, no more gas, we cannot cook,”
laments one of them.
We find ourselves collecting wood on the side of the road, and we cook over a wood fire!
During the flood, I was terrified, I didn't dare fall asleep at night.
I said to myself: if they release more water, maybe it can go up to the first floor, at my place too!
"
Officially the death toll is 69, but it could be much heavier.
►
See also: Floods in China: doubts about the real number of dead in Zhengzhou
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