In China, Zhengzhou mops up but other cities prepare for In-fa flood havoc to come
- Typhoon expected to batter Taiwan and coastal mainland Chinese provinces in next few days
- Shanghai puts up flood barriers to fend off inundation of the subway system
The flood control headquarters of Xinxiang, a city of 6 million where thousands are reported to be stranded by rising waters, said on Friday the banks of the Communism Canal had been breached, flooding the Wei River and leaving nearby villages in a “critical situation”.
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Flood-hit residents of China’s Henan province rescued after being trapped for three days
In Zhengzhou, authorities said the death toll on Friday was at least 51, up from the 32 on Thursday. Almost 400,000 people had been displaced and the direct economic losses for the city had mounted to 65.5 billion yuan (US$10.1 billion).
After Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call on Wednesday for all provinces to help Henan, more than 5,000 soldiers, 30,000 police officers, 160,000 volunteers, and 400,000 Communist Party cadres were deployed for relief efforts, according to city authorities.
Footage of rescuers pulling out a four-month-old baby from a collapsed building on Thursday was posted online and viewed hundreds of millions of times on Chinese social media.
The mother was also pulled out alive but reportedly died on Friday. A relative told state media the mother “lifted the child up at the last moment and pushed it to safety”.
