Beijing (AP) —Saturday, after heavy rains killed at least 56 people, rescue teams used bulldozers and inflatable raftes to move residents from flooded areas of central China.
In Chungzhou, a city of 12 million people, government crews armed with industrial pumps have finished draining major traffic tunnels, according to news reports.
According to the government, the rain that began on Tuesday in densely populated Henan was the heaviest on record.
The sky was mostly clear on Saturday, but parts of Zhengzhou and other cities, including Shingo, Kawami, and Anyo, were still underwater.
Residents were taken from areas of snakes up to 2 meters (6 feet) deep, according to Shanghai news agency The Paper.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Ministry of Emergency Management has dispatched a flood drainage team with 300 people and equipment from neighboring states.
More than 200 wrecked vehicles were pulled from the Jingguang North Road Tunnel in Zhengzhou, where water was pumped up to 13 meters (43 feet) deep, The Paper reported.
“It was confirmed that some people had died,” the newspaper said, but did not indicate whether it meant that additional bodies were found in the tunnel after the two reported on Wednesday. Twelve people were killed in a flooded Zhengzhou subway tunnel on Tuesday night.
According to Xinhua, the direct economic loss was estimated at 13.9 billion yuan ($ 2 billion). A total of more than 3,800 homes have collapsed throughout the state, with 920,000 people evacuated.