Disastrous rain and floodings continue to plague China’s Henan province, where Zhengzhou city and surrounding towns and villages have been dealing with the strongest rainfall ever recorded.
Henan, home to 99 million residents, has seen extreme rain since Friday, July 16, leading to floods and critical situations in the region on July 20, when the city of Zhengzhou was hit especially hard.
According to reports on July 24, the death toll from the torrential rains has risen to 56. More than a million of people were relocated and over 7,5 million people are affected.
In this blog, we will list some of the main stories relating to the floods in Henan that have gone trending on the Chinese social media platform Weibo over the past week up to July 24.
TRENDING TIMELINE
July 20
PASSENGERS TRAPPED IN ZHENGZHOU SUBWAY (Hashtag: #郑州地铁5号线一车厢多人被困#)
On the late afternoon of July 20, a terrible flood occurred around the Wulongkou parking lot of Zhengzhou Metro Line 5. On Tuesday night, around 18:00, the water burst into the underground area between Shakou Road station and Haitansi station, trapping a train with approximately 500 passengers in it. The critical situation led to terrifying images and videos of passengers caught in the carriage, the water reaching up to their necks. Due to the lack oxygen in the carriage, many people fainted.
Image via Chinatimes.
After several hours, rescuers were able to get people out through the roof of the carriage. Although hundreds of people were saved, at least twelve did not survive. Footage that circulated on social media showed lifeless bodies lying on the floor of the station during the rescue operation.
The incident is one that kept generating online discussions after it happened, with survivors telling their stories and saying it felt “like the Titanic sinking.”
Around 20:00, twelve people were trapped in at the subway line 14 Olympic Sports Center station, with the water running up to two meters high. The fire department was able to rescue all twelve.
ZHENGZHOU HOSPITAL POWER OUTAGE (Hashtag: #暴雨中的郑州医院#)
The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, one of the biggest hospitals in the world, ran into major problems on July 20 when there was a power outage due to major flooding.
On social media, Weibo users cried out to request help for resources to rescue patients. This led to city residents coming in to bring electricity generators. The next day, on July 21st, the hospital’s critical patients were all evacuated to other medical facilities.
July 21
STRANDED PASSENGERS AT ZHENGZHOU EAST STATION (Hashtag: #郑州东站 音乐是有力量的#)
Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Zhengzhou East Station when all services were suspended after 2:00 AM on July 21st. A youth orchestra group decided to pull out their instruments and perform in the station’s main hall.
7月20日，因郑州暴雨，途径郑州的多列高铁停运，部分乘客被困郑州东站，一个学生交响乐团也在其中，学生们就地现场演奏了《我和我的祖国》和《歌唱祖国》
# zhengzhou#郑州洪水 pic.twitter.com/JSYSQ8jCjC
— venicema (@venicemala) July 21, 2021
The kind gesture moved many Chinese social media users to tears.
CONTROVERSY OVER HENAN REAL ESTATE COMPANY ‘HIGHLAND’ ADVERTISEMENT (Hashtag: #康桥地产致歉#)
An ad by the local real estate company Kangqiao Real Estate promoting its ‘high lands’ properties led to online controversy. The Kangqiao Group poster highlighted the height advantage to its real estate locations, using the slogan: “Highland – live in the highland and only let the wind and rain be your scenery.”
The ad started making its rounds while Henan was in the midst of a huge rainstorm and flooding. Many deemed the timing of the ad insensitive, as well its wording. “Let the wind and rain just be your scenery” could also be understood as staying away from the hardships experienced by so many in Henan. Many felt the company was taking advantage of the disaster in Henan to promote its own real estate.
On July 21, Kangqiao Real Estate issued a statement of apology, saying that the advertising was canceled and that those responsible for its content would be removed from their position.
BABY RESCUED FROM DEBRIS (Hashtag: #三个月大婴儿被埋废墟一天一夜获救#)
A 3-month old baby was pulled from the ruins of a collapsed house in Xingyang, Zhengzhou. The infant reportedly was rescued a day after the building collapsed to landslides caused by the heavy rainfall. The child was sent to the hospital. The child’s mother was initially said to be still missing. BBC later reported that the mother died after bringing her baby to safety. The child is unharmed.
It’s hard to grasp just how many tragedies have unfolded (and still are) over the past days in Henan. This 3 month old baby was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed house in Xingyang after an entire day and night. His mother is still missing. pic.twitter.com/UaFOs8pRa5
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) July 22, 2021
FIREFIGHTER COLLAPSES AFTER RESCUE (Hashtag: #郑州消防员救出最后一个孩子后累瘫#)
Around 14:30 in the afternoon, a fire erupted in a residential building in Zhengzhou, leaving 23 residents in a dangerous situation. Local firefighters managed to carry out all residents, mainly elderly and children. Due to the extreme weather conditions and high temperatures in the building, one firefighter collapsed at the scene. His colleagues immediately provided medical assistance.
ZHENGZHOU INSTALLS TEMPORARY PUBLIC WATER TAPS (Hashtag: #暴雨后郑州街头安装临时水龙头#)
As the majority of residential buildings in the city of Zhengzhou were cut off from water after the torrential rains and floodings, the city installed temporary water taps on July 21st.
July 22
WEIHUI AND HUIXIAN EMERGENCY SITUATION (Hashtag: #卫辉暴雨#, #辉县暴雨#)
In the early morning of July 22, the people in Weihui sounded the alarm over the situation in their town. Around 4.00 AM, water started flooding into people’s homes due to excessive rain and overflowing reservoirs.
Sleepless night for so many people in Henan as the rain keeps falling and northern areas are increasingly facing major problems. Many people are calling out for help for the smaller city of Weihui, where water levels are rising up to waist level and sandbags are needed. pic.twitter.com/LKp3pW3Jto
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) July 21, 2021
As the rain still continued, water levels kept rising up to waist level and there was a lack of sandbags. A similar situation unfolded in the Huixian area.
Weihui is a county-level city with about 480,000 inhabitants, Huixian has approximately 790,000.
HUIXIAN HOSPITAL FLOODED (Hashtag:#辉县暴雨#)
Some 300 patients and staff at the local Gongji Hospital (辉县市共济医院) were trapped by the water. With power being cut off, not enough food available, and not enough manpower, the staff started reaching out for help via social media.
PASSENGERS GET OFF K206 TRAIN AFTER BEING STUCK FOR 45 HOURS (Hashtag: #滞留K206列车旅客回忆救援过程#)
After being stuck on the Qingdao-bound K206 train for 45 hours due to the floods, train passengers were finally able to get off their train.
The train departed from Chengdu on July 19 at 6pm. Caught by the severe weather conditions in Henan, the train was stranded and had no electricity, supplies, nor air conditioning for nearly two days. On July 22, the 1100 passengers were welcomed to stay at the Zhengzhou Business School until they could continue their journey.
ELECTRICITY TO BE RESTORED IN ZHENGZHOU (Hashtag: #郑州力争今晚恢复高层居民小区供电#)
The Zhengzhou local government held a press conference on the afternoon of July 22 that they expected electricity in the city to be partially restored on Thursday night.
ONLINE ANGER OVER COMPANIES USING “HENAN FLOOD MARKETING” (Hashtag: #多家地产公司借暴雨营销#)
After the online outrage over a local real estate company promoting its ‘highland’ property in light of the floodings, other companies also sparked controversy for using the Henan floods as a marketing strategy.
Two local companies selling parking space used the devastating floods, in which countless cars were flooded, as a way to promote their supposedly safe parking lot. The companies, Yongwei (永威) and Yaxing (亚星), were denounced for promoting their company in this way at a time when the entire country was still praying for Henan and going out to help those in need.
July 23
CRITICAL DAY FOR XINXIANG FLOODS (Hashtag: #新乡大块镇上万村民被洪水围困#)
Xinxiang, a city of 5.8 million people just 70 km north of Zhengzhou, also saw extreme rain and floods this week, leading to a critical situation on July 23. Efforts to block the Wei river from flooding villages near Hebi failed. Thousands of locals were trapped without water and electricity.
Global Times reported that reporters tried to get to the hardest-hit counties in Xinxiang on Thursday morning, but were informed that the situation was so severe that teams without boats could no longer get in. Firefighters and rescuers used forklift trucks and rubber boats to evacuate the residents from the flooded villages in Xinxiang.
HUNDREDS OF DRIVERS TRAPPED IN JINGGUANG TUNNEL, AT LEAST TWO DEAD (Hashtag: #京广隧道#)
Earlier in the week, hundreds of vehicles were trapped by the water at Jingguang Tunnel, a 2-km-long underpass in Zhengzhou. On Friday, Global Times reported that at least two people had died in the tunnel. Meanwhile, drainage and dredging work was still underway.
People became stuck in traffic at the underpass around 4 pm on Tuesday, July 20, when there was heavy rain. According to witness reports, the water level rose very rapidly and cars were soon flooded. One witness told Global Times that the water was completely over the car roofs within 20 minutes after the water levels started rising.
CHINESE SPORTSWEAR BRAND ERKE BECOMES ONLINE HIT AFTER DONATING 50 MILLION (Hashtag: #鸿星尔克的微博评论好心酸#)
The domestic sportswear brand named Erke (鸿星尔克) donated 50 million yuan ($7.7 million) to the Henan flood. This attracted a lot of attention on Chinese social media, since Erke is a relatively small and low-profile brand that seemingly has not been doing too well over the past years.
After people found out that the company donated such a high amount of money to help the people in Henan despite its own losses, its online sales went through the roof – everyone wanted to support this generous ‘patriotic brand.’ While netizens rushed to the online shops selling Erke, the brand’s physical shops also ran out of products with so many people coming to buy their sportswear. One female sales assistant was moved to tears when the store suddenly filled up with so many customers.
ONE-LEGGED MAN COMES TO THE RESCUE IN XINXIANG (Hashtag: #独腿小哥自发驰援新乡转运老人孩子#)
A man with one leg attracted attention on Chinese social media when footage and images came out of the Puyang resident helping the elderly and children in Xinxiang get away from the water. The young man pulled a boat and made many trips to get people across the water. The man’s hometown of Puyang is about two to three hours from Xinxiang – he came down to Xinxiang to help locals out.
July 24
HELPING OUT FOR HENAN HASHTAG HITS 15 BILLION VIEWS (Hashtag: #河南暴雨互助#)
A special Weibo hashtag dedicated to seeking assistance and providing help during the Henan floods hit 15 billion views on Saturday, making it one of the most-viewed news-related hashtags of the year. The social media platform Weibo became an important communication tool during the Henan floods, with countless of posts using the hashtag to seek help and provide information. See our article dedicated to this topic here.
ENORMOUS LOSS OF CROPS AND LIVESTOCK (Hashtag: #暴雨后百余只羊仅找回一只#)
With ongoing rescue efforts in the region, more ‘after the rainstorm’ videos and social media posts came out on Saturday showing the devastating consequences of the heavy rainfall and floods. Many villagers have lost their homes, crops, livestock, and belongings.
People’s Daily reported that one family in Xingyang county that had more than a hundred sheep, only had one animal left after the floods.
THE FLOODS IN HEBI (Hashtag: #鹤壁暴雨#)
The Olympics have started, and many of the trending topics on Weibo were no longer related to the floods on Saturday. Many Weibo commenters were therefore calling out to generate more attention for the situations in Henan’s rural areas, particularly in Anyang, Xinxiang, and Hebi, which are still underwater and are seriously affected by the floods.
Current situation in Hebi, Henan. pic.twitter.com/iIJ7wJP7Qf
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) July 24, 2021
“We’ve been doing online volunteer work in the disaster area in Henan, and the reality is far more serious than we can even imagine,” one Weibo user commented.
Also see our articles on Henan here.
By Manya Koetse (@manyapan)
With contributions by Miranda Barnes
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