Zhengzhou in China: »Such rains usually only happen once every 100 years«

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Floods in Zhengzhou: More than 100,000 people were brought to safety

Photo: FEATURECHINA / EPA

The heaviest rainfall in decades has caused massive flooding in the central Chinese metropolis of Zhengzhou and the surrounding region.

The authorities announced that at least 25 people were killed.

However, more victims were feared.

In Henan Province, to which Zhengzhou belongs, over a million people were affected by the storm.

Saving human lives has "top priority," China's President Xi Jinping was quoted by state media as saying.

Videos could be seen how multi-lane roads in Zhengzhou were sometimes transformed into raging rivers.

Cars swam in the water.

The water and electricity supply was interrupted in many places.

Traffic was paralyzed.

Twelve people died in a flooded subway.

The floods flooded the tunnels, hundreds of people were temporarily trapped in trains, as reported by the state media and eyewitnesses on social media.

The water was partly up to their shoulders.

Hospital without electricity

More than 100,000 people were brought to safety in evacuations.

Among them were around 600 patients from a Zhengzhou University hospital.

The power in the clinic was out.

In the south of Zhengzhou, the dam of the Guojiaju Water Reservoir broke in the early morning hours of Wednesday, the state television reported.

There was talk of the heaviest rainfall since records began.

“Such rains usually only happen once every 100 years.

The situation is grim, ”reported the crisis team in the provincial capital of Henan, which has nine million inhabitants, according to the“ China Daily ”.

According to the Chinese media, as much rain has fallen over the region since Tuesday as it has otherwise within eight months.

Videos of dramatic rescue operations, in which people were rescued from torrential brown floods, circulated in the state media and on the Weibo short message service.

Internet users complained, however, that the state censorship also deleted posts.

Heavy rains for days

The unusually heavy rains in Henan were caused by typhoon "In-Fa".

The cyclone also caused severe weather in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

The province of Henan has been hit by heavy rains since last week.

The water levels of the Yellow River and Haihe River tributaries exceeded alert levels, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The damage to agriculture runs into the millions.

Severe storms were also reported from southern China, where another typhoon called "Cempaka" hit land near the city of Yangjiang with wind speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour in the province of Guangdong.

There were also severe floods in Inner Mongolia in northern China.

The weather service warned again on Wednesday of heavy rains in many provinces.

Particularly in the south of China, severe flooding occurs again and again in the summer months, which results in numerous casualties and high economic damage.

ptz / dpa