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Amber Wang

Ma Chengfeng counts himself lucky.
He said that if he had run out of his house just two minutes later, he would have been swept away by floods triggered by heavy rain last week.
Ma lives in Mihe township in Gongyi, a small city about 80km (50 miles) west of Zhengzhou in the central Chinese province of Henan.
On Tuesday, he was woken by his wife Wang Fengjuan and the couple fled with their two children to a neighbour’s home on higher ground.
On the weekend, Ma was sitting by the side of a road covered by a thick layer of silt, staring at a community that had been washed away. Behind him, his family’s two-storey house had been reduced to a pile of bricks, broken furniture and rubbish.
“The water came so suddenly that nobody was prepared,” Ma, 36, said, as Wang picked through the rubble looking for something of value.
“I have nowhere to live now, and I don’t know what to do.”

While the downpours have stopped, those displaced are struggling to find a way to pick up their lives.
By Monday, the provincial death toll from the deluge had risen to 69, and almost 1.4 million people had been forced to leave for higher ground. More than 14,000 families have lost their homes, and over 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) of farmland has been inundated.
In Gongyi, one of the hardest-hit areas, four residents died and five more were still missing.
Henan is one of the country’s biggest sources of “migrant workers”, people who leave their communities to find work in other parts of China.
Ma was one of them, working in the construction industry, but he took a break and returned to Gongyi last month amid the centenary of the Communist Party.
“I used to send money home every month, about 4,000 yuan (US$617) but now I have no idea when I can go back to the city to work,” Ma said, wondering how he would pay for his children’s education if he could not go back to his job.

Throughout Mihe, vehicles damaged in the flood were piled up on the road. Power, phone and water services had not been fully restored by the weekend.
Many bridges were damaged and emergency workers were using heavy equipment to remove the blanket of silt.
Volunteers and cadres had also been mobilised to distribute supplies to residents.
In the village of Mibei, banners calling on the public to “earnestly learn the history of the Communist Party” were still on display.
But a new town hall, built at a cost of over 1 million yuan to host party activities, was severely damaged.
Party secretary Ma Yuanren said he had never thought that such heavy rain was possible.
“There hasn’t been such heavy rain in decades,” he said.
Two weeks ago he was organising celebrations for the centenary. Since the floods, he and other party cadres have been surveying losses and arranging relief work.

Ma Xingzhong, 70, who ran a bedding store in the villages, was in tears, with bedsheets and quilts soaked in the flood piled up in his shop.
He had spent 300,000 yuan treating an illness and now his business losses came to more than 60,000 yuan.
“This disaster will make life very difficult for me,” he said.


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What now for the homeless from China’s floods?

Residents in the village of Mibei in Gongyi continue on the long road to cleaning up after the floods. Photo: Simon Song

Bridges are damaged Gongyi, central China's Henan province, on Saturday July 24, 2021. .  24JUL21 SCMP/Simon Song

Damaged  Mibei village, Mihe township, Gongyi city, central China's Henan province, on Saturday July 24, 2021. .  24JUL21 SCMP/Simon Song

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ZHENGZHOU, CHINA - JULY 22: People charge their mobile phones outside a shop on July 22, 2021 in Zhengzhou, Henan Province of China. Torrential rains across Henan Province cut off power supply in Zhengzhou and some shops provide extension power sockets for citizens for free. (Photo by Wang Fuxiao/VCG via Getty Images)Credit: Getty Images

ZHENGZHOU, CHINA - JULY 21 2021: Shoppers line up at the checkout in a supermarket in Zhengzhou city in central China's Henan province Wednesday, July 21, 2021. The massive flooding has prompted panic shopping in the city after the flooding receded. (Photo credit should read Feature China/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)Credit: Getty Images

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epa09364993 A woman struggles with umbrella on the street during the heavy winds and rain caused by “In-Fa” typhoon in Shanghai, China, 25 July 2021. After the typhoon Cempaka hit South China on 20 July and heavy rain in Central China causing flooding on 21 July, Shanghai braces for the typhoon In-Fa. According to a China Meteorological Administration report, In-Fa landed 25 July, at 12:30 pm local time, in Zhoushan city, a major port in East China. 25 July, Shanghai airports suspended all flights as well as inter-city trains and busses. The Shanghai government said it would slow subway trains and advised the public to stay indoors. EPA-EFE/ALEX PLAVEVSKI

epaselect epa09364986 People walk on the street during the heavy winds and rain caused by “In-Fa” typhoon in Shanghai, China, 25 July 2021. After the typhoon Cempaka hit South China on 20 July and heavy rain in Central China causing flooding on 21 July, Shanghai braces for the typhoon In-Fa. According to a China Meteorological Administration report, In-Fa landed 25 July, at 12:30 pm local time, in Zhoushan city, a major port in East China. 25 July, Shanghai airports suspended all flights as well as inter-city trains and busses. The Shanghai government said it would slow subway trains and advised the public to stay indoors. EPA-EFE/ALEX PLAVEVSKI

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The deluge in Henan province left lives and homes in ruins
Survivors pick through the remains to find a way to keep going



Survivors pick through the remains of homes and lives to find a way to keep going.


Natural disasters

What now for the homeless from China’s floods?

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} The deluge in Henan province left lives and homes in ruins Survivors pick through the remains to find a way to keep going

The deluge in Henan province left lives and homes in ruins

Survivors pick through the remains to find a way to keep going