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Floods have stranded thousands of people in Xinxiang, Henan province. Photo: Simon Song

In China, Zhengzhou mops up but other cities prepare for In-fa flood havoc to come

  • Typhoon expected to batter Taiwan and coastal mainland Chinese provinces in next few days
  • Shanghai puts up flood barriers to fend off inundation of the subway system
As China redoubles efforts to help the central province of Henan recover from floods that have left at least 56 dead, the typhoon that largely contributed to the deluge is fast approaching other parts of the country.
Over the past several days, the heaviest rains in decades have caused massive floods throughout Henan, starting in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou before wreaking havoc in other cities and towns.

The flood control headquarters of Xinxiang, a city of 6 million where thousands are reported to be stranded by rising waters, said on Friday the banks of the Communism Canal had been breached, flooding the Wei River and leaving nearby villages in a “critical situation”.

02:13

Flood-hit residents of China’s Henan province rescued after being trapped for three days

Flood-hit residents of China’s Henan province rescued after being trapped for three days

In Zhengzhou, authorities said the death toll on Friday was at least 51, up from the 32 on Thursday. Almost 400,000 people had been displaced and the direct economic losses for the city had mounted to 65.5 billion yuan (US$10.1 billion).

After Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call on Wednesday for all provinces to help Henan, more than 5,000 soldiers, 30,000 police officers, 160,000 volunteers, and 400,000 Communist Party cadres were deployed for relief efforts, according to city authorities.

Footage of rescuers pulling out a four-month-old baby from a collapsed building on Thursday was posted online and viewed hundreds of millions of times on Chinese social media.

The mother was also pulled out alive but reportedly died on Friday. A relative told state media the mother “lifted the child up at the last moment and pushed it to safety”.

Zhengzhou authorities said on Friday they expected electricity supplies to “completely return to normal” by Saturday and the water supply to “basically return to normal” by Sunday.

China uses drone to restore phone coverage, assess damage after floods

But while Zhengzhou recovers, other provinces could be at risk of flooding as the typhoon partly responsible for the heavy rains in Henan moves towards the Pacific.

At around noon Friday, the National Meteorological Centre forecast that Typhoon In-fa would move from central China southeast towards the East China Sea, passing by the coastal province of Zhejiang.

With maximum sustained winds of 144km/h and gusts of up to 180km/h, In-fa was 360km (224 miles) east of Taipei, moving north-northwest at a speed of 13km/h away from the island towards Zhejiang by Friday evening, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.

Torrential rains were expected to remain in northern and northeastern Taiwan and in the mountain areas of central and southern Taiwan in the next two days as a result of the typhoon, the bureau said, adding residents were warned of floods in low-lying areas.

03:56

As rains ease in central China, 3 million people still struggling with effects of deadly flooding

As rains ease in central China, 3 million people still struggling with effects of deadly flooding

The typhoon is expected to make landfall in Zhejiang either on Sunday afternoon or early Monday morning, according to the mainland’s National Meteorological Centre. This will be when the effects of the typhoon are most likely to be felt the hardest.

Zhejiang governor Zheng Shanjie said the province had raised its emergency response level to the second-highest. The province’s meteorological bureau forecast on Friday that heavy rains would hit eastern and northern Zhejiang for the next few days.

In-fa was also expected to cause heavy rain in cities in Fujian, another coastal province in southern China. Provincial capital Fuzhou and the cities of Nanping and Ningde will face heavy rains, according to state-run People’s Daily.

Desperate villagers in central China wade through waist-high floods to reach safety

Wang Yin, 45, a university teacher in Zhejiang’s provincial capital Hangzhou, said she stocked up on food and cancelled her plans to travel out of the city.

“I am also not going to take the subway. A bulletin was posted in the neighborhood reminding everyone to stock up on supplies and not to go outside. My phone also received a text message alert,” she said.

Wang said the province was hit by typhoons almost every summer but this year she was more concerned than usual.

“Usually before the typhoon comes we do not prepare anything, but this time I’m scared after seeing what happened in Zhengzhou,” she said.

“If the entire response mechanism is rigid and not resilient, many bad things tend to become extreme and only get worse.”

03:08

Heroes emerge amid devastating China floods

Heroes emerge amid devastating China floods

In Shanghai, north of Zhejiang, authorities were on alert, working to secure the city of 25 million people against strong winds and flooding.

Shanghai’s transport authorities said they would suspend subway services if there were strong gales.

Shanghai-based news outlet ThePaper.cn reported that authorities were bringing in sandbags and erecting barriers after 12 people died in a flooded subway system in Zhengzhou.

Sophie Xia, 40, who works for an energy company in Shanghai, said she was preparing to work from home on Monday, when the typhoon might landfall in neighbouring Zhejiang.

Besides stocking up on some food supplies and cancelling some family events on the weekend, Xia said she was not too concerned by the nearby typhoon.

“We are calm now, I have confidence in the municipal government of Shanghai, which has the ability to handle it,” she said.

Additional reporting by Lawrence Chung

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This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Cities brace for storm as Zhengzhou mops up
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