A human toll largely revised upwards.
The death toll from the floods in central China tripled on Monday, August 2, according to local authorities who now report 302 dead and 50 missing.
The rains that hit the metropolis of Zhengzhou, capital of the densely populated Henan province, engulfed a subway train and a road tunnel, sweeping away dozens of cars.
The previous report for the entire province reported a hundred deaths.
In front of the press, the mayor of Zhengzhou, Hou Jong, clarified that 39 people were killed in underground parking lots.
At least 14 people died in a submerged subway during rush hour, where some 500 passengers in a train were trapped.
Local authorities have been criticized for not ordering the closure of public transport despite weather warnings.
Henan, China's third most populous province - with nearly 100 million people - suffered historic rainfall that turned the streets into torrents of mud.
Its capital, Zhengzhou, has been particularly badly damaged.
In three days, the equivalent of nearly a year of precipitation fell in Zhengzhou, unprecedented in six decades of weather records, and enough to fuel concern about the impact of climate change.
Hou Jong estimated the damage in his city at 53.2 billion yuan - nearly 7 billion euros.
With AFP
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