Death toll goes up to 33 in China floods
China floods, at least 33 people have died in the province after Zhengzhou city saw a year’s worth of rainfall in three days.
From sharing public health information to contacts for support, China’s Weibo platform became an online space connecting people seeking help with rescue teams.
The death toll in central China’s unprecedented flash floods triggered after the heaviest rainfall in 1,000 years has reached 33 with eight people missing.
The torrential rain has affected about three million people in Henan province. A total of 376,000 local residents have been relocated to safe places, the provincial emergency management department said.
Chinese are using social media to help
As people shared tales of horror and pleaded for help online, thousands of social media users responded by redirecting their Weibo posts.
For instance, as news emerged that various trains were being stranded after rail lines got submerged, people put together lists of each train number and the resources its passengers needed.
Rainwater has damaged more than 215,200 hectares of crops, causing a direct economic loss of about 1. 22 billion yuan (about USD 188.6 million), state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The massive floods, described by meteorologists as a once-in-a-lifetime event. This has resulted in apocalyptic scenes in Henan and its provincial capital Zhengzhou, a metropolis of 12. 6 million, with its public avenues and subway tunnels getting submerged with surging waters.
China’s PLA blasted damaged dam to divert surging waters of flooded river after province received heaviest rainfall in 1,000 years.
Twelve people were killed and five others injured when subway stations were hit by the floods.
The victims died when their subway train was hit with rapidly rising floodwaters on Tuesday night.
Two people were killed when a wall collapsed.
Some put together text-only versions of critical contact lists. After discovering that people in some areas could not download images because heavy rains had affected internet speeds.
Netizens also helped to organise streams of information so that it was up-to-date and clear.
According to reports, residents living near Tielu Railway Station delivered food and bottled water to passengers stuck in trains. After the hashtag “K226 call for emergency rescue” was viewed more than 800 million times.