Death toll rises to 25 from heavy rains in central China’s Henan
The death toll from torrential rains in central China's Henan Province has risen to 25, with seven people missing, local authorities told a press brief-ing on Wednesday afternoon.
Since July 16, over 1.24 million people have been affected by the extremely heavy rainfall and about 164,710 people have been relocated to safe places, said Xu Zhong, director of the office of Henan provincial flood control and drought relief head-quarters.
The central Chinese city of Zhengzhou has been lashed by record rainstorms, causing severe waterlogging, traffic disruptions, and power outages. The record rains have prom-pted the flood control and drou-ght relief headquarters in the capital city of Henan Province to upgrade the flooding emer-gency response level to its highest on Tuesday afternoon.
Zhengzhou received average precipitation of 457.5 mm within 24 hours to 5 p.m. Tuesday, the highest daily rainfall since the weather record began. The city also reported recordhigh hourly precipitation of 201.9 mm between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the Henan provincial meteorological cen-ter said.
The severe waterlogging has led to the virtual paralysis of the city's road traffic. Over 80 bus lines have been suspended, more than 100 temporarily de-toured, and the subway service has also been temporarily sus-pended.
Rainwater poured into the subway tunnel of the city's Line Five, trapping an unknown number of passengers aboard a subway train.
Police officers, firefighters, and workers from the local subdistrict have arrived at the site for the rescue operation.
Xinhua