China’s Henan Province was hit by a “historic” rainstorm on July 20, with the provincial capital Zhengzhou subway flooded to the waist with water up to two meters deep. The city was paralyzed, with many residents swept away by the flooding in the city, and an unknown number of people were killed and lost. Social networks have many Zhengzhou subway station platform display many seemingly lifeless body photos and videos, allegedly too long trapped in the subway loss of temperature and lack of oxygen caused, but officials have only admitted 12 dead and 5 injured. In addition, the whole of Henan Province, 32 large and medium-sized reservoirs water level exceeded the limit, AFP quoted the Chinese military warned that a reservoir in Luoyang “face collapse at any time”, the whole of Henan Province is in an emergency.
32 large and medium-sized reservoirs exceeded the water level limit
Henan, which has a history of many reservoir breakdowns, is once again facing a dangerous situation, with 32 medium and large reservoirs across the country exceeding their water levels, making the situation urgent. AFP quoted an alert from the People’s Liberation Army supporting local relief efforts that the Yihetan reservoir in Luoyang City “could break at any time. Phoenix instant message also pointed out: Luoyang City, Yichuan County, Yi He Tan dam 20 days about 20 meters of breach, the river bank damage is serious, the barrage may collapse at any time. “In accordance with the central war zone orders, the 83rd Group Army an engineering defense and chemical brigade emergency mobilization, starry night to rescue the implementation of blasting flood diversion tasks.”
Zhengzhou plunged into a sea of unknown number of deaths
How many casualties caused by the flood is not clear, the official media CCTV reported that Gongyi City is known to be 1 dead and 2 lost, Gongyi City meteorological director was rescued after being swept away by the water, according to Phoenix information, local time in the early morning of the 21st, Zhengzhou City, on the neighborhood of Yaxing Century Jiayuan District, a fence collapsed in the heavy rain , resulting in the death of 2 people. According to a video published by Phoenix, a teenager was swept away by the flood in Biyun Road, Erqi District, Zhengzhou City, a man in black into the water to rescue, and eventually physical exhaustion, both swept away by the torrent. Also according to the surging news report, Henan Dengfeng city due to the outbreak of heavy rainfall, July 20 flood spread to a factory plant alloy tank, high-temperature solution explosion, no casualties and loss of life reported for the time being.
Some reports said that Zhengzhou subway was completely lost, the whole line 5 was flooded, many people were missing, at least hundreds of people were trapped, and there were videos showing many people lying unconscious on the balcony for CPR first aid, not knowing whether they were dead or alive. line 2 was also flooded, thousands of people were trapped for up to seven hours. A local netizen posted that his cousin has been locked in the No. 2 subway for several hours, the water has flooded to the chest, “there are children inside the subway, we take turns to lift, too heartbreaking! “At present, Zhengzhou ground transportation is completely shut down, the city is seriously flooded. Local time 21 morning, Zhengzhou officials admitted that the city’s flooding has caused 12 deaths and five injuries, but the authenticity of this figure has raised high doubts.
Instant videos posted frequently on the Internet show sudden flooding in many parts of Henan, with citizens climbing up houses and trees in a rush to rescue, and many houses and fences collapsing in Gongyi. Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, the entire city subway line trapped in water, the station platform water flowing rapidly, passengers trapped, the car tourists were half submerged, Zhengzhou subway whole line shut down, the video shows the city streets mud flow rolling, countless small cars suspended horizontally in the street.
“A once-in-a-millennium event”
“According to Chinese media citing meteorological news, Zhengzhou, which is just over 700 kilometers southwest of Beijing, received 201.9 mm of rain in one hour from 16-17 p.m. on the 20th, breaking the single-hour rainfall record of 2,418 national weather stations in mainland China, and Zhengzhou has now issued the highest level of Level 1 red alert. Shaolin Temple has been flooded, scenic cars were washed away by the flood, Shaolin Temple and Longmen Grottoes and other more than 50 famous attractions have been closed in an emergency. According to Nandu report, July 20, Baotou to Guangzhou K599 train running to Beijing-Guangzhou line Zhengzhou City, Nanyangzhai to Haitang Temple area, found that heavy rain caused the roadbed to sink, the train tilted, passengers emergency transfer.
Henan Province Flood Control Command said that from 7:00 on July 19 to 7:00 on July 20, most areas in Henan province experienced heavy rain, heavy rain, the western part of Zhengzhou City, Pingdingshan City Lushan County, Luoyang City, Nanyang City are very heavy rain. The Henan Daily quoted the local meteorological bureau reported that from 20:00 on the 19th to 20:00 on the 20th, a single day rainfall of 552.5mm. 20:00 on the 17th to 20:00 on the 20th, a three-day process rainfall of 617.1mm. where hourly precipitation, single day precipitation have broken the 60-year historical record since the establishment of Zhengzhou station in 1951. Zhengzhou perennial average annual rainfall of 640.8mm, equivalent to the amount of the past year under the three days. The report described it as a “once-in-a-millennium event”. But this statement has caused a backlash from netizens: “One in a million years can also be, anyway, not tax. It is better to be pragmatic and take action to solve the problem”; “When did this place have hydro-meteorological records? Why is it a thousand years?”
After the province of Henan was caught in a mega rainstorm, many people questioned whether the weather forecast was reliable, according to Chinese media reports, the local meteorological department had a forecast early, “only the location was slightly off”: in the afternoon of the 17th Henan Jiaozuo City issued a warning that Jiaozuo was facing super heavy rainfall, Jiaozuo would become the center of the storm, Zhengzhou City also issued a forecast, but it was considered a storm sub-center, the intensity will not be as great as Jiaozuo, the final scenario is that Zhengzhou becomes the center of the strong rainstorm hit.
A painful historical memory
The outbreak of mega-floods in Henan stirred up painful memories for the locals, with four major water systems in Henan: the Yellow River, the Huai River, the Wei River and the Han River. reservoirs, nearly 60 small and medium-sized reservoirs collapsed one after another in just a few hours. Among them, Banqiao Reservoir collapsed, the maximum out of the reservoir instantaneous flow of 79,000 cubic meters per second, the flood peak height of 15 meters, 6 hours to the downstream tilt of 701 million cubic meters of flood water, Beijing-Guangzhou Railway first washed away 102 kilometers, the collapse of the dam time 1:00 a.m., where the flood peak, tens of thousands of people are still asleep, many villages, municipalities and towns are gone.
The most conservative report of the death toll on that occasion was 26,000, but the unnatural death toll from the plague and famine caused by the flooding was between 220,000 and 240,000. It coincided with the Cultural Revolution in China and was officially not mentioned thereafter until many years later when it became known.
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