Iran Press/ Asia: Severe flooding in central China has killed at least 12 people trapped inside a subway in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, according to state media reports. The flooding inundated much of the city and surrounding region, killing 25 people and creating scenes of destruction that suggested the death toll could be much higher.
In Zhengzhou’s subway system, floodwaters breached a retaining wall near an entrance to Line 5, which makes a loop around the city center, China News reported. The water poured into the system between the Shakou Road and Haitan Temple stations around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, The New York Times reported.
Trapped passengers posted videos showing water rising to their chests or necks. In one video, water surged outside the subway car’s windows. Other photographs and videos — some later apparently removed by censors — showed several lifeless bodies on a subway platform at the Shakou Road stop.
“It’s like making a horror movie, my goodness,” one man trapped in a subway car could be heard saying in one video.
The death and destruction in and around Zhengzhou, a city of five million along the Yellow River, seems certain to add to the grim global toll extreme weather has already taken this year. Researchers have said climate change is causing the scorching heat in the Pacific Northwest, forest fires in Siberia, and flooding in Germany and Belgium.
In response to the disaster, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, ordered the authorities to give top priority to people’s safety, Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said in a report that described “heavy casualties and property losses.” Xi called the flooding “very severe” and warned that some dams had been damaged even as rivers exceeded alert levels.
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