Heavy Rains and Deadly Floods in China Shut Down Subways and Trains. Scientists “Shocked and Alarmed.”

“I have lived in Zhengzhou all my life and have never seen such a heavy rainstorm as today, July 20, 2021…” where passengers were trapped in waist-high water.”

— Wang Guirong, restaurant manager in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

“I am scared that it seems to be happening so quickly. There have been seriously record-breaking events all over the world, within weeks of each other.”

— Hayley Fowler, Ph.D., Hydroclimatologist, U. K. Newcastle University

Henan Province (pale blue) in east central China in this Google Earth map has 94 million people. Zhengzhou is the ancient capital dating back to Neolithic times that had 10.35 million population in 2019. **Click to enlarge.**

Heavy rain and flooding washed away trucks and cars and stopped train services on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in China's Henan Province where twelve people also died in the floods and 100,000 residents have been moved to "safe zones." Click to enlarge. — Heavy rain and flooding washed away trucks and cars and stopped train services on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in China’s Henan Province where twelve people also died in the floods and 100,000 residents have been moved to “safe zones.” **Click to enlarge.**

July 20, 2021 Zhengzhou, Capitol of Henan Province, China – This is China’s annual “rainy season,” but no one has been prepared for the nearly 8 inches of rain that fell in one hour on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, causing the Yellow River in Zhengzhou to overflow its banks. Ninety-four million people live in China’s Henan Province and heavy rainfall has now killed at least 12 people in the capitol while more than 100,000 people are now trying to survive in “safe zones.”

Bus trapped in deep flood waters on July 20, 2021, in Zhengzhou, China. Click to enlarge. — Bus trapped in deep flood waters on July 20, 2021, in Zhengzhou, China. **Click to enlarge.**

July 19-20, 2021 — Flooding Inside Zhengzhou Subway and Streets

Flood images by U. K. Sky News, July 19-20, 2021. See video link below in More Information.

Will the Xiaolangdi Reservoir Dam Collapse?

The Chinese army contacted media to warn that the Xiaolangdi Reservoir Dam is badly damaged by the torrential rains and “could collapse at any time.” Evacuations around the dam have been ordered by the local government.

The Xiaolangdi Reservoir Dam in Luoyang, China's central Henan Province, has been overwhelmed with flooding rain waters since July 5, 2021, when this aerial photo was taken by AFP. Click to enlarge. — The Xiaolangdi Reservoir Dam in Luoyang, China’s central Henan Province, has been overwhelmed with flooding rain waters since July 5, 2021, when this aerial photo was taken by AFP. **Click to enlarge.**

Residents rescued from heavy rainfall flooding in Hefei, Anhui province, China on July 8, 2021. Image by China Daily via Reuters. — Residents rescued from heavy rainfall flooding in Hefei, Anhui province, China on July 8, 2021. Image by *China Daily* via Reuters. **Click to enlarge.**

“Shocking and Alarming” Intensity and Scale of Floods
from China to Germany and Belgium

Climate scientists say that the intensity and scale of the floods in Germany, Belgium and China this week are “shocking.” The record-breaking extreme heat, fire and rain records over such a wide area of Earth this soon in mid-2021 is alarming.

Expressing his own surprise by how far the broken records are above previous records, Professor Dieter Gerten, an expert in global change climatology and hydrology at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany told U.K.’s The Guardian: “We seem to be not just above normal, but in domains we didn’t expect in terms of spatial extent and the speed with which it developed.”

“I am scared that it seems to be happening so quickly,” said Hayley Fowler, a hydroclimatologist at Newcastle University in Britain. “There have been seriously record-breaking events all over the world, within weeks of each other.”

More Information:

Sky News Video Excerpts of Flooding: https://news.sky.com/story/amp/china-floods-people-trapped-on-subway-trains-as-city-sees-more-rain-in-an-hour-than-flood-hit-germany-in-three-days-12359980

Websites:

NASA Global Climate Change: https://climate.nasa.gov/

Columbia Climate School: The Earth Institute: https://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/1963

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home

National Center for Atmospheric Research, NCAR: https://ncar.ucar.edu/