Record rainfall strands Chinese commuters
China's military has blasted a dam to release floodwaters threatening one of its most heavily populated provinces. The operation in the city of Luoyang came after at least 12 people died in severe flooding in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou.
China’s military has blasted a dam to release floodwaters threatening one of its most heavily populated provinces.
The operation in the city of Luoyang came after at least 12 people died in severe flooding in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, where residents were trapped in the subway systemand left stranded at schools, apartments and offices.
Transport and working life have been disrupted throughout the province, with torrents of rain turning streets into rapidly flowing rivers, washing away cars and rising into people's homes.
More than 100,000 people have been evacuated to safety. Henan province is home to many cultural sites and a major base for industry and agriculture.
On Wednesday, state media showed waters at waist height, with rain still coming down.
To the north of Zhengzhou, the famed Shaolin Temple, known for its Buddhist monks' mastery of martial arts, was also badly hit.
Record-breaking rainfall flooded underground railway tunnels in China, leaving passengers trapped in rising waters.
Video shared on social media shows evening commuters just managing to keep their heads above water. water is seen rushing onto platforms.
Survivors described how water leaked through train doors, rising slowly from "our ankles to our knees to our necks". "All of us who could, stood on the subway seats," one woman wrote on chinese social network site Weibo.
More than 500 people were eventually rescued from the tunnels.
In total, 25 people have died in
Hen an province and more than a dozen cities are affected. pr es id entxij in ping said on wednesday that there had been" significant loss of life and damage to property".
Several dams and reservoirs
have breached warning levels, and soldiers have also been mobilised to dive rt rivers which have burst their banks.
China experiences regular flooding during the summer, but the growth of cities and conversion
of farmland into subdivisions has raised the impact of such events.
Meanwhile, Germany's Cabinet has approved a £345.7 million package of immediate aid for victims of last week's floods and vowed to get started quickly on rebuilding the devastated areas.
Finance minister Olaf Scholz said that the package, financed half by the federal government and half by germany' s state governments, to help people deal with the immediate aftermath of the flooding will be expanded if more money is needed.
"We will do what is necessary to help everyone immediately," he said.
The government also expects to spend billions on rebuilding, but how much exactly will not be clear until authorities have a better overview of the extent of the damage. mr scholz said that reconstruction efforts will get under way without delay.
At least 171 people were killed in Germany when small rivers swelled into raging torrents after persistent downpours, most in Ahrweiler county, near Bonn. Another 31 died in neighbouring Belgium.