Record-breaking rain causes floods in China. Underground railway tunnels filled up with water and around 12 passengers died in Zhengzhou. Several videos circulating on the internet shows passenger hardly managing to keep their heads above water to protect themselves. Rescue teams are working and more than 500 people were rescued immediately after the water breakthrough onto the platforms. It has been raining for several days and vast damage has been caused due to it. Approximately 200,000 people had to evacuate their homes.
The situation is just bad above ground. Roads are completely submerged in the water looking like rivers. The water is flowing in high pressure with cars and debris sweeping along. Pedestrians faced difficulty as well but were rescued by the teams.
As per the reports, 25 people lost their lives in Henan province while a large number of cities are facing the consequences of the disaster. According to the Chinese president Xi Jinping, it is a huge loss of life and destruction of property. All sorts of transportation have been suspended in Henan. The majority of the dams and reservoirs have crossed their warning levels and the riverbanks have burst.
In Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan, it rained equally to a year’s average rainfall in three days only. This is how bad the flood in China is. Rescue teams are working tirelessly but got overwhelmed when the water started flowing down the railway tunnels with full pressure. The survivors from the underground tunnels say that the water started leaking from the doors first and then started rising within a couple of minutes. Initially, it was till the ankles but started rising to the knees and then to the neck. Some of the passengers stood on the subway seats and the parents lifted their children. Five people were severely injured while 12 were pulled out dead.
Other than that, children also got stuck at a nursery school and were rescued by the teams. They were floated out by the rescuers on plastic tubs. Electricity supply to a major part of the cities was cut. As well the internet and water supplies were also affected in most areas. According to a local Chinese resident Mr. Liu, “Never in my life had I seen so much rain. There was one hour where the rain was just pouring down on us from the heavens, and everything went completely white.”
The destruction was not in Zhengzhou alone but many other cities and villages were damaged as well. The heavy downpour caused an overflow of rivers and dams. The government called in the army to control the situation and as per them, it can collapse anytime. People in the villages climbed on their rooftops since the lowers floors were getting submerged in the water.
What caused the floods in China?
Climate change is the biggest reason for all-natural disasters be it floods or droughts happening across the world. As the climate gets warmers, the entire system of Earth gets disrupted and hence these adverse side effects. However, climate change is not the only culprit of the flood in China. The widespread construction of dams across the country has worsened the climate change problems in the flood zone around the Yellow River. The connections between the rivers and lakes are cut off for dam construction. It has ruined the flood plains which are supposed to absorb the downpours.
