TENS OF THOUSANDS EVACUATE AS RAINS MOVE NORTH
ZHENGZHOU Tens of thousands of people were being evacuated from flood-hit regions of central China on Thursday, as officials raised the death toll from heavy rain that has deluged Henan province for almost a week to 33 people.
More cities were inundated and crops destroyed as the severe weather spread northward, with the official Xinhua news agency reporting direct economic losses of $240 million.
The provincial weather bureau raised the storm alert on Thursday for four cities in the north of Henan — Xinxiang, Anyang, Hebi and Jiaozuo — to red, the highest tier of a four-step colour-coded weather warning system.
The fatalities included 12 people who were killed when the subway in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, about 650 km southwest of Beijing, was flooded earlier this week.
In Zhengzhou, where the bad weather reached a peak on Tuesday, the skies had cleared although floodwaters were still at waist height or higher, with entire streets underwater in many areas.
Rescue teams used rubber rafts to ferry residents to safety, while others waded through the water carrying belongings above their heads or waited on half-submerged cars to be picked up.
As the storm moved north on Thursday, more than 73,000 people were being evacuated from the city of Anyang, on Henan’s border with Hebei province.
The city had been swamped by more than 600 mm of rainfall since Monday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Two people were killed in Hebei province when a tornado struck the city of Baoding on Wednesday.