Subway cars flooded in China, leaving some passengers dead and others terrified as cars filled nearly up to the top with water.
Chinese state news outlet Xinhua broadcast footage of subway passengers in Zhengzhou trapped inside a flooded subway car. Passengers also published posts on social media about the life-threatening conditions they were facing on the subway in hopes of being rescued. So far, the torrential downpour and flooding has left at least 12 people dead in Zhengzhou, all from the provincial capital’s subway system, authorities claimed according to CNN.
Passengers were trapped on a metro line in Zhengzhou, China after downpours hit the city. Rescue efforts have been underway. #GLOBALink pic.twitter.com/im4nvAfhv0
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) July 20, 2021
Xinhua’s footage shows people tightly packed inside a subway car as the water inside the car rose and flood water surrounded the subway cars as it rushed down the tracks. The harrowing scenes were also posted on social media in desperate pleas for help. (RELATED: Waist-High Water In Subways, Cars Underwater Shown In Terrifying Footage Of Floods In China)
“The water inside the carriage has reached chest-levels! I already can’t speak anymore, please help!” a woman by the name of Xiaopei wrote on social media, according to CNN. A subsequent post from Xiaopei read, “If no rescue comes in 20 minutes, several hundreds of us will lose our lives in Zhengzhou subway.” Later, the fire department was able to confirm that Xiaopei was among the passengers rescued, CNN reported.
Other footage from the flooding, caused primarily by the fact that more than 20 centimeters (almost eight inches) of rain fell in the span of just one hour Tuesday, showed city residents wading through water up to their hips on the street in order to try and rescue individuals who became trapped in an underground mall, CNN reported. Another clip posted by state-run People’s Daily showed people making a human chain to prevent being swept away by the flood’s swift current, CNN reported.
More than 100,000 Zhengzhou residents have been evacuated from the city, which boasts a population of 12.6 million, according to CNN. Rescue operations are well underway in the affected areas of the country, with more than 6,000 firefighters and almost 2,000 members of the Chinese military working on search and rescue efforts, Chinese media outlet CGTN reported.