12 killed in heavy rain, floods in central China
Beijing, Jul 21: At least 12 people were killed while about 100,000 have been relocated to safe places in China's central Henan province which received the highest daily rainfall since the weather record began, state media reported on Wednesday.
Provincial capital Zhengzhou reported a record-high hourly precipitation of 201.9 mm between 4 PM and 5 PM on Tuesday, the Henan provincial meteorological centre said.
The downtown area of Zhengzhou received an average precipitation of 457.5 mm within 24 hours on Tuesday, the highest daily rainfall since the weather record began, Xinhua news agency reported.
Twelve people were killed while about 100,000 have been relocated to safe places, it said.
Henan province is home to many cultural sites and a major base for industry and agriculture. Reports said that Shaolin Temple, known for its Buddhist monks' mastery of martial arts, was severely hit by floods.
The severe waterlogging has led to the virtual paralysis of the city's road traffic. Over 80 bus lines have been suspended, more than 100 temporarily detoured and the subway service has also been temporarily suspended.
Rainwater poured into the subway tunnel of the city's Line Five, trapping an unknown number of passengers aboard a subway train.
Police officers, firefighters and workers from the local sub district have arrived at the site for the rescue operation, the report said.
The water level inside the subway carriage is receding, and the passengers are temporarily safe, it said.
More than 160 train services were stopped at Zhengzhoudong Railway Station.
The airport in Zhengzhou cancelled 260 flights into and out of the city, and local railway authorities also halted or delayed some trains.
Affected by the rainstorms, several residential communities in the city are without tap water and electricity.
Both Henan provincial and Zhengzhou municipal meteorological bureaus have raised the emergency response for meteorological disasters to level I.
Heavy rains in Henan are expected to last until Wednesday night, according to forecasts.
Dramatic scenes in the Chinese city of #Zhengzhou of people trapped in the worst flooding the city has seen in decades. 12 people are confirmed dead, most died in submerged subway stations. No power and water in many parts of the city. 10,000 firefighters and soldiers deployed. pic.twitter.com/g5eEim5n7H
— Katrina Yu (@Katmyu) July 21, 2021
Life and death moment: a woman was rescued from flood waters by several people through a rope in Zhengzhou, which has been hit by torrential rains that have killed 12 people. pic.twitter.com/COvByKSd6Q
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) July 21, 2021
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
