Three days after devastating rains in central China, the death toll rose to at least 56 dead on Friday, July 23, as a typhoon now threatens Shanghai and its region.
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Chinese meteorology issued an orange alert on Friday as Typhoon In-Fa approached, which is expected to make landfall this weekend in an area with tens of millions of inhabitants. It is currently located some 600 kilometers from the coast of Zhejiang (east), one of the provinces bordering Shanghai. In-Fa ("
fireworks
"), whose winds can reach more than 150 km / h, is accompanied by torrential rains, warned the Chinese Meteorological Agency.
Further west, Henan (pronounced: "
Renane
"), China's third largest province by population with nearly 100 million inhabitants, has been hit by record rainfall in recent days, which has turned the streets into torrents. mud.
Zhengzhou, its capital, was particularly damaged, to the point that a subway train was engulfed Tuesday, killing 12 people.
Read also: In pictures: scenes of chaos in China after devastating floods
Friday, the record of bad weather was revised upwards while relief still cleared the disaster areas.
At least 56 people were killed, the official New China news agency said, also citing missing persons.
Earlier, a report by local authorities in Zhengzhou had reported 51 victims.
395,000 people evacuated
In the metropolis of 10 million inhabitants, firefighters and rescuers were active Friday with huge pumps to remove the volumes of water accumulated in the streets.
The inclement weather caused the evacuation of more than 395,000 people and caused more than 65.5 billion yuan (8.5 billion euros) in damage, city authorities announced on Friday.
Read also: "One year of rain in 24 hours": record floods hit China
90 km from Zhengzhou, the city of Xinxiang and its surroundings are cut off from the world.
The Wei River came out of its bed, according to public television CCTV.
Nearly 9,000 people were thus sheltered.
19,000 remain to be evacuated, the channel said.
Residents take part in the rescue
In a street of Weihui, the water reaches up to the knees, even up to the neck in places.
Volunteers participate in the rescue.
"
The idea is that there are not two teams in the same place doing the same thing,
" Zhang Luyang, one of the volunteers, told AFP.
The stranded inhabitants are evacuated on rubber dinghies or makeshift rafts made up of doors or sheets.
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In a nearby locality, hundreds of people came to seek refuge in Liang Long's hotel. "
Their villages have been razed, there is nothing left,
" laments a hotel employee to AFP. The hotel, located about twenty kilometers from the most affected areas, is still receiving calls for help. “
Our hotel's food is running out
”. Climate change is singled out as the reason for the worst bad weather in the region since weather records began 60 years ago.