Death toll rises as passengers recount horror of China subway floods

By Nectar Gan and Zixu Wang, CNN

Updated 0845 GMT (1645 HKT) July 23, 2021
(CNN)At least 33 people have died and eight remain missing in central China,
as authorities ramp up rescue and recovery efforts following devastating floods
that submerged entire neighborhoods, trapped passengers in subway cars,
caused landslides and overwhelmed dams and rivers.
Torrential rains have battered Henan province since last weekend, displacing
hundreds of thousands of people and causing 1.22 billion yuan (about $190
million) of economic damage, Henan authorities said Thursday.
Home to 99 million residents, Henan is one of China's most populous and
poorest provinces, with large swathes of farmlands and factories.

A damaged bridge following heavy rains which caused severe flooding in

Gongyi in China's central Henan province on July 21, 2021
Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of 12 million people, is one of the worst-hit
areas, with 12 killed after being trapped for hours on a flooded subway line. But
many smaller cities and villages have also been badly ravaged. With more rains
forecast for the region, the death toll is expected to rise as rescue work
continues.
In Gongyi, a county-level city to the west of Zhengzhou, at least four people
were killed as gushing floodwaters swept through streets. Heavy rains also
caused widespread collapse of homes and landslides, hampering rescue
operations.
In another city, Xinxiang, rivers have swelled beyond warning levels and seven
reservoirs have overflowed, affecting 58 counties and 470,000 people,
according to state-run People's Daily.
The severity of the flooding was captured by numerous videos shared on
Chinese social media, which showed people and cars swept away in surging
torrents. On Thursday, stranded residents have continued to call for help on
Wechat and Weibo, the country's two largest social media platforms, with
some sharing photos and information of their missing family members.
'On the brink of breakdown'
One of the most horrifying scenes from the disaster occurred underground on
Line 5 of the Zhengzhou subway.
During the evening rush hour on Tuesday, hundreds of commuters were trapped
in rising water as murky torrents gushed into the tunnel and seeped into
carriages. Some posted videos and pleaded for help online. Dramatic videos
showing people clinging to ceiling handles to keep their heads above the rising
waters shocked the nation and made headlines around the world. In another
video, several bodies could be seen lying lifelessly on the platform, as rescuers
performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on others.
Authorities said more than 500 passengers were evacuated from the inundated
subway line, with 12 killed and five others injured.
On social media and in interviews with Chinese media, some survivors shared
harrowing accounts of how the disaster unfolded on the subway.
In a post on microblogging site Weibo, a woman said water started to seep into
the subway train soon after it came to a stop in between two stations. Subway
staff had first instructed passengers to leave the train and evacuate through the
tunnel, but they were soon told to turn back because there was too much
floodwater ahead.
A flooded subway station in Zhengzhou, in China's Henan province, after
torrential rainfall on July 21.
By the time all of them had returned to the subways cars, the water was already
at their waists. It kept rising as more water filled the tunnel and seeped through
gaps between the subway car doors.
"We tried to stand on the seats as much as we could, but even then, the water
reached our chests in the end," she wrote. "I was really scared, but the most
terrifying thing was not the water, but the diminishing air in the carriage -- as
many seemed to have trouble breathing."
She heard another woman giving her family her bank account details on the
phone, and wondered if she should do the same. She sent a message to her
mother, telling her she "might not make it." When her mother called back, she
was suddenly at a loss for words. She told her she was still waiting for rescue
and hung up, and spent the next two and a half hours "on the brink of
breakdown."
Eventually, she fainted due to lack of oxygen, but was later awaken by the
vibration of her phone. It was a call from her mother telling her rescue was on
the way. At that moment, she heard footsteps on top of the train, and firefighters
started to smash open the windows to let in fresh air. She heard more rescuers
arriving, and one after another, they were let out -- those who fainted were sent
out first, followed by women, she wrote. Her post was later deleted. It was not
clear why, or by whom -- and CNN has been unable to verify her account.
A heavy downpour in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province on July 20,
2021.
Another woman told state-run China Youth Daily that she couldn't control
herself from weeping when she saw water coming into the train. Around her,
some others cried too. But people comforted each other, and gradually, most
chose to stay silent to preserve energy.
Some tried to call emergency lines and asked family and friends to get help, but
to no avail. By 9 p.m., water inside the train had reached their throats, she said.
There were children, pregnant women and the elderly in the crowds, and some
people around her started shaking, retching and gasping for air.
"I was really terrified at that time. When I saw the water rising above our heads
outside the window, I was preparing myself to accept that I would never be able
to get out," she said.
With only 30% of battery left on her phone, she closed all the other apps on her
device and sent messages to her relatives and friends on Wechat, but she didn't
dare to tell her parents, she said. Before 9 p.m., she kept asking them to contact
rescuers. But afterward, she was mainly making arrangements for people to take
care of things after she died.
Stories of heroism have also emerged, with one widely circulated video
showing a man, later identified by state media as Yang Junkui, a former special
forces solider, repeatedly diving into the flood waters to save five people, some
of whom were trapped underwater in their cars. "I practiced in the army," Yang
told Xinhua. "My mind is about saving lives, and I turn my face to save lives."
State media also broadcast footage showing rescue workers freeing a baby
trapped under the rubble of a collapsed house in Xingyang city. The baby,
which state media said had been trapped for 24 hours before being rescued, was
taken to hospital for treatment and is reportedly in a stable condition. State
media reported that the baby's mother was later found dead.

See aftermath of devastating floods in China 01:21

'Once in a thousand years'?
At a news conference on Wednesday evening, officials observed a moment of
silence for the flood victims. More than 6,000 firefighters and 2,000 members
of the military and paramilitary forces had been deployed across disaster-hit
areas, according to officials.
More heavy rains were forecast for Thursday, before they were expected to
subside on Friday, according to an official at the provincial meteorological
station.
Though flooding during the summer months is an annual occurrence in parts of
China, recent record-breaking rains have alarmed scientists and officials, raising
questions as to whether the country is prepared to deal with more extreme
and unpredictable weather amplified by climate change.
"Areas undergoing rapid urbanization are experiencing a steep rise in risk," said
Liu Junyan, climate and energy project leader for Greenpeace in Beijing, in a
recent press statement accompanying the release of a report mapping the
growing risk from extreme weather in China's major cities.
The heavy flooding submerged roads and swept cars away.
"Building resilient communities means first identifying at-risk groups, whether
that's based on location, income, welfare, housing, employment, medical
history, or other factors," added Liu.
Henan authorities said the intensity of the downpour was unprecedented, with
more than 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) of rain dumping onto Zhengzhou in one
hour on Tuesday afternoon -- accounting for one third of the city's annual
rainfall recorded last year.
Zhengzhou's meteorological station has described the level of rainfall as "once
in a thousand years." Henan's water resources department, meanwhile, has
called rain levels in parts of the province "once in 5,000 years."
On Wednesday evening, however, a senior meteorologist pushed back against
such descriptions at a news conference in Beijing. Chen Tao, chief forecaster of
the National Meteorological Center, said it was hard for meteorologists to draw
such a conclusion without reliable longtime data, given that China's
precipitation records only go back to 1951, according to state news
agency Xinhua.