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ZHENGZHOU, China – The heaviest hour of precipitation ever reliably recorded in China fell like a meteorite. mile wide waterfall At least 300 people died, including 14 who drowned in a subway tunnel in the city of Zhengzhou on July 20.
Afterwards, regional and national officials initially suggested that little could be done in the face of a storm of this magnitude.
But an analysis of how officials reacted that day, based on government documents, interviews with experts, and Chinese news, shows that flaws in the subway system’s design and missteps in its operations that day almost certainly contributed to the deaths in the tunnel.
Zhengzhou’s challenges offer lessons for other urban centers in the age of climate change – including New York City. close your subway During a downpour half as heavy on September 1st.
The flood showed the challenge posed by global warming. China’s go-go development model of the last forty years. He highlighted questions about how well China’s cities, including its subways, could cope. extreme weather is more common. The Zhengzhou subway only started reopening on Sunday.
“We humans need to learn to dance with wolves and survive extreme weather and climate,” said Kong Feng, associate professor of disaster and emergency management at China Agricultural University in Beijing, “because we don’t have a better way to stop it right now.” ”
The Chinese government now seems to acknowledge missteps from local authorities and the possibility that severe weather events will become more and more common. During a visit about a month after the flood, Chinese premier Li Keqiang warned that the country must address shortcomings in preparedness “to warn future generations.” According to an official statement, a government investigation team referred unspecified “acts of neglect of duty” to law enforcement.
The issue has become politically sensitive. Posts criticizing the government’s actions were removed from social media platforms. a Communist Party organization encouraged Harassment of foreign journalists covering the disaster.
Yet the images and stories resonated in China before they disappeared. Deep in the subway tunnels, outside the windows of a train, the water raged like turbulent brown currents. Vehicles struggled for air as the water rose.
“While I didn’t know if it would be by suffocation or by suffocation, I felt like I was waiting for my death there,” said Zheng Yongle, a passenger stranded on Zhengzhou’s Line 5 train.
The 14 deaths on Line 5 were only part of the disaster that temporarily displaced 1.4 million people, but they resonated deeply with the public.
On the night of July 19, Zhengzhou’s meteorological service issued the first of a series of emergency alerts that continued through the next day. According to government regulations in Henan Province, which includes Zhengzhou, the warnings should have triggered the closure of all businesses except essential businesses. For reasons that remain unclear, the city did not issue such an order.
The rain peaked with the record-breaking cloud burst on July 20. Between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., 7.95 inches of rain fell, double what officials had predicted in the next three hours. The Flood compared to a peak of 3.15 inches per hour in New York on September 1 and similar peak rainfall during the deadly flood. in Tennessee on August 21.
Weather historian Christopher Burt for Weather Underground, a forecasting subsidiary of IBM, said it was the heaviest single-hour precipitation reliably measured in the center of a major city anywhere in the world.
“The Zhengzhou and Manhattan showers show that climate change means that current calculations of the frequency of downpours may no longer be valid,” he said.
The Zhengzhou Metro subway system, including its pumps, drainage ditches, and pipes, was designed to meet central government drainage standards – but only for the type of storm that should have had a one in 50 chance of occurrence, according to previous assumptions. given year.
In contrast, Zhengzhou meteorologists estimate a downpour like the one in July to be less than one in 1,000 per year—though China’s national meteorological agency has warned the country only has reliable records from the early 1950s.
Mr Kong, of the Agricultural University of China, said city officials are holding emergency drills for heavy flooding, but not for catastrophic flooding.
“There are hidden vulnerabilities in the city that were never discovered until this disaster happened,” he said.
A vulnerable spot in the subway system is a retaining wall built into an area of the city, officials said. defined as flood prone more than a decade ago. The wall stood next to a maintenance garden and near the base of a cliff. A six-lane street descended the slope of a row of 30-story apartment towers.
Water flowed down the slope as the cloudburst intensified. The wall collapsed. Water poured into the tunnels used to raise trains above ground for cleaning and repairs, filling Line 5, one of the system’s newest and busiest.
According to the Zhengzhou Metro, the retaining wall collapsed at around 6pm, 10 minutes before authorities shut down the subway. Social media accounts indicate flooding of the system before then.
“If the Metro had suspended services beforehand, the casualties could have been avoided,” Mr. Kong said.
By then, water had begun to choke a train on Line 5, which circled the city centre. Mr. Zheng and more than 500 passengers were stranded.
Zhengzhou officials have yet to explain why the trains continue to run. The next day, China’s Ministry of Transport said that subway train drivers can take immediate action in response to safety issues and then meet with dispatchers.
During the Flood, the subway seemed like a lifebuoy for those still trying to get around the city.
Wang Yunlong told Chinese news outlets that on a business trip from Shanghai, he and a colleague decided to take the subway because they couldn’t call a taxi from their hotel.
They were able to board the Line 5 train at Huanghe Road station, even though the Zhengzhou Subway began closing some entrances. It only took two stops before encountering difficulties at the Haitan Temple station, where it paused for about 20 minutes.
At 5:50 p.m. the train began moving again towards Shakou Road through a descending tunnel, the deepest part of Line 5. As the tunnel began to fill with water, the driver stopped between the two stations. He tried to reverse the train. It’s been too late.
What happened next came to light in gruesome detail. photos and videos Posted on China’s social media platforms.
Some passengers managed to get off the train ahead and reach Shakou Road station through the dangerous waters flowing through the tunnel. Mr. Wang and Mr. Zou were among those who tried, but Mr. Zou lost his grip and was swept away in the flood.
Passengers gasped for oxygen near the ceilings of the train carriages as the murky water rose as eyewitnesses described a slow and confused effort to evacuate the tunnels. Those present said that the rescue teams were able to reach the train when the water started to recede at around 21:00 in the evening.
The deaths demanded that those responsible be held accountable.
The widow of another deceased passenger, Sha Tao, a message He blames the subway system for continuing to work on Weibo. In a phone call the day after the flood, he told her that he had called her desperately. She complained that the authorities were slow to look for her after the subway flooded.
His body and Mr. Zou’s were found about a week later.
“The responsibility of Zhengzhou Metro is heavy and cannot be avoided,” he wrote.
Keith Bradsher Reported from Zhengzhou, China and Steven Lee Myers From Seoul and San Francisco. joyful, Liu Yi, Claire Fu and Amy Chang Chien contributed to research.
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