“Why didn’t you close the subway in advance when it was raining so heavily,” asked one. Online, commenters were divided, but included substantial criticism of the response.
Hawkish state-owned tabloid, the Global Times, said it was “absolutely impossible to keep Zhengzhou from flooding” in such heavy rains but greater mitigation efforts were needed to reduce the loss of life.Ĭoncerns had been raised about the safety of the subway system – which opened its first line in 2013 – the decision to keep it operating at peak hour when the rain was at its heaviest, and the transparency of officials. “They must take emergency measures such as suspending trains, evacuating passengers, and closing stations in atypical situations such as excessively intense storms,” the ministry said in a statement viewed at least 190m times on Weibo. The Chinese government has ordered local authorities to make immediate improvements to urban flood controls and emergency responses, including hidden risks on the rail system. Local authorities said the heavy rain caused water to accumulate in the parking lot near Line 5 of the metro, breaking through a retaining wall at around 6pm and flooding the line, stopping trains between Shakoulu – where at least five deaths are believed to have occurred – and Haitansi stations. Alarming footage showed people clinging to handrails in chest-high water. People ride a front loader as they make their way through a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province Photograph: Aly Song/ReutersĪt least 12 of the deaths occurred on the subway, where about 1,000 people were reportedly trapped in stations and carriages after water filled the tunnels. The rainfall broke hourly and daily records of the 70 years of collected data. Local media outlets have referred to the rainstorm – which saw a year’s worth of rainfall in three days – as a “one-in-1,000-year weather event”. But I think many authorities didn’t see the alarm,” she said. If individuals received alarms from authorities they would have paid serious attention. “The alarms should be sent to the government at all levels and then to individuals. “I later learned that the Henan Meteorological Department had issued the red alarm prior to the disaster, but no one can access it from the internet, or they didn’t pay attention, because there are a lot of alarms classified as spams,” a Zhengzhou resident told the Guardian. Henan floods: aerial images show devastation in Chinese province – video Many also questioned the decision to keep the subway operating throughout the deluge.
The Henan disaster has prompted public scrutiny over the preparedness of authorities, in particular the apparently inaccurate weather forecasts and the confusing disaster alert system. Thousands of rescuers were sent in to assist northern Henan, where dozens of counties were hit by flooding on Wednesday night and Thursday, with reports of overflowing reservoirs, submerged roads, and cars and trucks being washed away. In Guangdong, in southern China, 13 construction workers were killed when they were trapped in a flooded tunnel. Heavy rain was forecast to continue this week, driven in part by a strengthening typhoon east of Taiwan. ‘I might not make it’: passengers tell of horror as Chinese subway floods They also reported that eight people are still missing.
The official death toll from central China’s devastating floods has risen to 33, as the public began to ask questions about the readiness of authorities for the disaster.Ĭleanup efforts were under way in Henan province and the capital city Zhengzhou on Thursday, after a record breaking rain storm flooded the city’s streets and subway, damaged dams and reservoirs, collapsed roads, cut power to at least one hospital and was linked to a massive explosion at a factory in Dengfeng city.Īuthorities said 200,000 people were displaced by the floods and more than three million people were affected.
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