Severe flooding in China’s Henan province has resulted in 12 deaths and has caused over 100,000 people to flee to safe ground Tuesday, after heavy rain caused rivers to overflow.
Henan has been devastated by torrential downpours since July 16, with severe flooding throughout the province, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported. The local government published a warning on their website stating that “flood control situation is grim” and advised that there was an extremely high risk of disaster.
BREAKING – Heavy rain pounded the central Chinese province of Henan, bursting the banks of major rivers, flooding the streets of a dozen cities including Zhengzhou and trapping subway passengers waist-high in floodwaters pic.twitter.com/JSxYhz1k5a
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) July 20, 2021
Video showing subway passengers in Zhengzhou, Henan’s capital, standing in water at least waist-high in train cars waiting to be rescued, was tweeted by Insider Paper. Other images showed streets completely flooded with vehicles being completely submerged in water due to the flooding. (RELATED: European Floods Continue, Over 120 Dead)
FOOTAGES: Videos show catastrophic scenes of flooding in Henan, China after heavy rainhttps://t.co/ZOlU2TlsjJ
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) July 20, 2021
Between Saturday and Tuesday, 3,535 weather stations in Henan saw over 50 mm of rainfall, Reuters reported. Some of those stations recorded amounts greater than 100 mm. Data showed that there were 1,614 registered levels above 100 mm and 151 above 250 mm, Reuters reported. Lushan City had the highest amount so far with over 498 mm of rain, the provincial weather bureau reported.
“This is the heaviest rain since I was born, with so many familiar places flooded,” said a user on Chinese social media.
Forecasts show that rain is supposed to stop by Thursday, according to Reuters.