The death toll from floods in central China’s Henan province rose to 71 on Tuesday as tributes poured into a subway where 14 people died in a sign of sensitivity to public criticism of the government’s handling of the disaster.
Torrential rain left a year’s rain in the hardest-hit city of Zhengzhou in just three days last week, flooding subway cars and trapping more than 500 commuters during rush hour last Tuesday.
Pictures of passengers submerged in shoulder-height water went viral on Chinese social media.
The city government on Tuesday announced the names of those who died in the metro, a rare attempt at transparency after people left flowers at the entrance of the station.
“Due to the heavy rains, severe waterlogging occurred in some sections of Metro Line 5 and the walls protecting the Metro lines collapsed,” the official statement said.
Subway guards eventually blocked access to the wreath, but a video published Tuesday by the state-run West China Metropolis Daily showed a group of people pushing aside yellow barricades on Monday night, saying “the spirits of those Let me come back home!”
One of the victims, identified by his last name Sha on the official list, was a few days short of his 34th birthday.
“Who would have thought you were only a stop from home, but you would never come back again,” his wife wrote on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
Sha’s wife, who declined to be named, told Jimu News that she was suing the metro operator for negligence.
Foreign journalists covering the floods have been harassed online and on the ground, as have heightened sensitivity to any negative portrayals of China.
While reporting on a submerged traffic tunnel in Zhengzhou, AFP journalists were forced to remove footage and surrounded by dozens of men by hostile residents.
The heavy rains that began on July 17 have affected nearly 13 million people, damaged nearly 9,000 homes and caused economic losses of 13.9 billion yuan ($2 billion) in Henan.
Forecasters said more heavy rain is expected on Tuesday as the remnants of Typhoon In Fa pass through the region.
Henan’s meteorological observatory said in a statement that cities battered by last week’s floods, including Xinjiang, Hebei and Anyang, are expected to receive the heaviest rainfall from July 27 to 29.
read all Breaking News, breaking news And coronavirus news Here