Traumatised villagers in Chinese flood village say authorities failed to warn them of disaster
Father who lost two children is just one many villagers demanding explanations why officials were unable to warn them of the impending disaster in the middle of the night
Zhang Erqiang was devastated by the loss of both his children after a flood swept through Xingtai city early on Wednesday.
The flood took my daughter and son away in a split second. It took me the whole day to find their bodies
Like many of his fellow 2,000 villagers in Daxian, Zhang is demanding to know why officials failed to warn them of the impending flashflood and act quickly enough to help them evacuate.
Daxian, 400km south of Beijing, was one of the worst-hit villagers in the flood that left least seven people dead, including three children. Two other children were missing, The Beijing News reported.
“The flash flood took my daughter [Zhang Yunuo], 10, and son [Zhang Haoyu], 6, away in a split second. It took me the whole day to find their bodies,” Zhang told the newspaper.
While some villagers believe the flood was caused by a deluge in an upstream reservoir, authorities have categorically denied the disaster was due to human error. But officials admitted their warnings, issued through TV, Wechat and microblogging services just a few minutes before the floods hit, may have been too late to avoid the heavy casualties in villages including Daxian where power and communications were also disrupted.
When Zhang’s house was hit by a wall of water at about 1.50am, village chief Zhang Zhange had just received an emergency call from township authorities that the flood was approaching Daxian village.
When the village chief tried to alert villagers through a loudspeaker, it was already too late.