In central China’s Henan Province, torrential rain has affected about 3 million people, with 33 reported dead and eight still missing.
A total of 376,000 local residents have been relocated to safe places, the provincial emergency management department said.
Henan, one of China’s most populous provinces with 94 million people is facing historic rainstorm for past few days which has devastated the lines of communication and transport. Underground subway system has also been inundated.
State news agency reported that rainwater has damaged more than 215,200 hectares of crops, causing a direct economic loss of about 188.6 million U.S. dollars.
Many provinces have faced huge flooding this year and out the infrastructure under stress.
Many dams have been washed away highlighting the issues related to maintenance and rivers have overflown causing damage to the life and property. Several roads and railway lines were blocked by rain-triggered disasters.
Hundreds of trains and flights have been grounded. Communication, power and water supply in several areas of the Zhengzhou city have been disrupted for more than 24 hours with base stations, electricity and water facilities damaged.
A downpour in Zhengzhou caused train services to stop Tuesday night, stranding a large number of people.
Passengers on a subway train were trapped that night as the heavy rain inundated the subway system with rushing water.
Experts warn that this may be a sign of climate change in the region.
As per media reports, weather forecasters had predicted heavy rainfall ahead of the devastating floods that hit central China this week but issued a warning for the wrong place and wrong time.
Chen Tao, chief forecaster at the National Meteorological Centre, said in Beijing on Wednesday that China had made efforts to improve its extreme weather forecasting “but it remains a worldwide challenge”.
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