‘The whole town was submerged’: central China prepares for more flooding
- As provincial capital Zhengzhou starts to clean up, rescue efforts continue elsewhere
- Some places are being told to evacuate, others are sandbagging, while NGOs send supplies
.jpg?itok=H5_PTCSf&v=1700020945)
In central China, Xinxiang resident Yuehai was out buying food on Wednesday afternoon when the sky opened up.
The water started pooling around her ankles as she raced home. “It seemed that if it kept raining like that, I’d have to swim back,” she said.
Yuehai, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, made it home safely. But other friends in the city in Henan province, 70km north of the capital Zhengzhou, were not so lucky – one became trapped in rising floodwater later that night after attempting to drive through it.
Much attention has been on the provincial capital, where the cumulative rainfall in three days was close to an average year’s worth and videos shared on social media showed chaotic scenes of cars flipped on flooded roads and ground-floor shops and flats swamped with water.
But with 3,000 military personnel working in 10 different danger zones across the city, Zhengzhou is starting to clean up, while other parts of Henan are bracing themselves for more flooding.
03:08
Heroes emerge amid devastating China floods
At the highway entrance into Xinxiang, two trucks carrying supplies head towards the county of Nanzhai, a hard-hit area where more than 500 people are sheltering at a local primary school.
Yue Shuzhen, head of the Kaifeng Daliang social services centre, is in charge of getting supplies where they are needed. He said some villages in the county had been almost inundated and people need food and water.
The Amity Foundation, a non-profit group, has sent instant noodles, bottled water and sausages. “The non-government organisations have been highly efficient compared with the government,” Yue said.
Another NGO, the volunteer group Blue Sky Rescue, stepped in to help relocate people in the town of Xingyang, 15km west of Zhengzhou.
“The whole town was submerged,” said team member Zhang Haixiang. “We didn’t rest for 24 hours, and only took a one-hour break this morning. We were rescuing people even at midnight.”
Rescue efforts continue in smaller cities and villages like this, surrounding the capital.
In Hebi, about 130km north of Zhengzhou, residents were busy sandbagging on Thursday, though a video sent to the South China Morning Post showed floodwater pouring in through the gates of a factory despite all the sandbags.
Devastating China floods caused by Typhoon In-fa’s airflow hitting area of high pressure, say experts
Meanwhile, the head of the local weather bureau had to be rescued from the roof of his car after it was swept into a ditch in Gongyi, 60km west of Zhengzhou, according to news site The Paper. He managed to break a window and climb on the roof, where he shouted for help. Two hours later, about 20 locals managed to rescue him using a rope.
While the floodwater was starting to recede in some cities on Thursday, tens of thousands of people were still being rescued from villages and farmland that remain submerged, and others were being told to evacuate.
Yuan Peng, a Didi driver who lives in Guangzhou, had just returned to his village in Zhoukou in the east of Henan. It is situated next to a river, and he fears that if the water rises it will be flooded.
Yuan said residents were told they had to leave on Wednesday afternoon. “The village chief was yelling this over a loudspeaker,” he said. “But no one cares about where we should relocate to – you have to find a place to stay yourself.”
The village is located in Fugou county, whose Flood Control and Drought Relief Command has ordered residents of 14 places to evacuate, according to a notice seen by the Post.
Yuan went to his grandparents’ home – only 2km away but a bit further back from the river, and where the water and electricity are still on.
He said some of his neighbours had nowhere to go and were staying outside on higher ground. “I don’t know how they’ll sleep,” he said. “And if the dyke breaks, no one can run.”
Yuan is also concerned about how safe his grandparents’ place is. “I’ve never seen a downpour like this,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve experienced the horror of flooding. It used to seem like something so far away. Today the river has risen so much you can touch the water when you’re standing on the bridge.”
