A dozen people died in a flooded subway line in Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s central Henan province, after the city was drenched by what weather watchers said were the heaviest rains for 1,000 years.
Video posted on social media late on Tuesday showed commuters chest-deep in murky floodwaters on a train in the dark, and an underground station turned into a large, churning pool. More 500 people were pulled to safety from the subway flood, Zhengshou city authorities said.
“The water reached my chest,” one survivor wrote on social media. “I was really scared, but the most terrifying thing was not the water, but the diminishing air supply in the carriage.”
Due to the rain, authorities in the city of 12 million people about 650 km (400 miles) southwest of Beijing, had halted bus services, said a Zhengzhou resident surnamed Guo, who spent the night at his office.
“That’s why many people took the subway, and the tragedy happened,” Guo told Reuters.
Amid torrential rains since last weekend, the death toll rose to at least 16 on Wednesday with four residents of Gongyi reported dead, according to local media. The city - located by the banks of the Yellow River, like Zhengzhou - has suffered widespread collapse of homes and structures due to the rains.
More rain is forecast across Henan for the next three days, and the People’s Liberation Army has dispatched more than 3,000 soldiers and personnel to help with search and rescue.
More here:
Video posted on social media late on Tuesday showed commuters chest-deep in murky floodwaters on a train in the dark, and an underground station turned into a large, churning pool. More 500 people were pulled to safety from the subway flood, Zhengshou city authorities said.
“The water reached my chest,” one survivor wrote on social media. “I was really scared, but the most terrifying thing was not the water, but the diminishing air supply in the carriage.”
Due to the rain, authorities in the city of 12 million people about 650 km (400 miles) southwest of Beijing, had halted bus services, said a Zhengzhou resident surnamed Guo, who spent the night at his office.
“That’s why many people took the subway, and the tragedy happened,” Guo told Reuters.
Amid torrential rains since last weekend, the death toll rose to at least 16 on Wednesday with four residents of Gongyi reported dead, according to local media. The city - located by the banks of the Yellow River, like Zhengzhou - has suffered widespread collapse of homes and structures due to the rains.
More rain is forecast across Henan for the next three days, and the People’s Liberation Army has dispatched more than 3,000 soldiers and personnel to help with search and rescue.
More here:
Code:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-weather-henan/at-least-16-dead-as-china-province-deluged-by-heaviest-rains-in-1000-years-idUSKBN2EQ2CF
and it's been the sunniest since the 1980s when we used to have water shortages every 7 or 8 years ... the past 2 decades June & July are normally wet months and the better months are normally April, May, August and September but for some reason April & May were unseasonally cold this year
