China’s Henan braces for more rain as death toll rises to 33

Weather authorities issue highest-level warning after days of torrential rain

Pedestrians wade through flooding after heavy rain in Zhengzhou, the capital of China's central Henan province. Rainwater inundated the city's subway system and forced thousands of residents from their homes.

Traffic struggles through flooding in Zhengzhou, the capital of China's central Henan province. The banks of rivers are reported to have burst, leaving people in waist-high water.

Vehicles are stranded after heavy rain in Zhengzhou, the capital city of China's central Henan province. Weather bureaus said 200mm of rain fell on Zhengzhou in an hour on Tuesday.

A Zhengzhou resident, prepared for the worst with a rain cape, on a flooded road.

A woman sitting on a fence in a flooded street following heavy rains in Zhengzhou.

Vehicles pass through floodwater in Zhengzhou.

A man wades past a submerged car following heavy rains in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan province.

People wade through floodwater in Zhengzhou.

People make their way along a flooded street in Zhengzhou.

Residents of Zhengzhou in central China's Henan province, push a van along a flooded street.

A man wades along a street in Zhengzhou, central China.

People struggle through flooded streets following heavy rains in Zhengzhou in China's central Henan province.

An aerial view shows cars sitting in floodwaters at the entrance of a tunnel after heavy rains hit the city of Zhengzhou in China's central Henan province.

Cars sit in floodwaters following heavy rains, in Zhengzhou in China's central Henan province.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, residents move their belongings across a flooded street in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan province.

A man holding a baby wades through a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China.

Rescue workers evacuate residents from a flooded residential compound following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China

People queue to receive relief goods following a heavy rain in Zhengzhou, in China's Henan province.

People ride a front loader as they make their way through a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China.

People wade through a flooded street following a heavy rain in Zhengzhou, in China's Henan province.

People wade through a flooded street following a heavy rain in Zhengzhou, in China's Henan province.

People riding boats and front loader make their way through a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China.

An aerial view shows rescue workers evacuating residents on a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China.

This aerial photo taken show a damaged bridge following heavy rains which caused severe flooding in Gongyi in China's central Henan province.

A truck travels on a flooded road after heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China.

China’s Henan province is bracing for heavier showers after severe flooding sparked large-scale evacuations and left at least 33 dead.

The death toll includes at least 12 people who were killed when water flooded subway cars in the provincial capital Zhengzhou. Eight remain missing, according to government figures.

Heavy rain is expected on Thursday in parts of Henan as well as neighboring Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing.

Rainfall in the area intensified since Tuesday, with Zhengzhou, a city of 10 million, receiving a year’s worth of rain in just three days. Across Henan, three million people have been affected and as many as 380,000 evacuated as of early Thursday.

The province is home to the world’s biggest production base for iPhones and a major centre for food production and heavy industry.

Pictures published by state media showed large sections of roads submerged in Zhengzhou, while videos on social media showed passengers stuck in flooded subway cars with water up to their shoulders and residents being pulled to safety with ropes from fast-moving floodwaters.

The deluge has, since Tuesday, brought the equivalent of more than eight months’ worth of the city’s average rainfall, and interrupted the operations of at least one global company with manufacturing operations there.

Nissan Motor said it temporarily halted production in Zhengzhou. SAIC Motor, China’s biggest carmaker, said logistics around its factory in Zhengzhou have been affected by the floods in the short term, but the plant had not been damaged.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, which owns a huge iPhone production plant in Zhengzhou, said it had activated an emergency response plan but the flooding has had no direct effect on the facility.

Hon Hai’s plant receives components needed to assemble iPhones from global and domestic Chinese suppliers before shipping out the finished products. The flooding struck as the company is preparing to increase output before the launch of Apple’s latest devices towards the end of the year.

State broadcaster CCTV showed residents being rescued in rafts from flooded streets.

One emergency worker carried a baby; a man in an underpass sat on top of his half-submerged car.

The flooding in Henan may also affect China’s food supply. Henan accounts for about a quarter of the wheat harvest and is a major centre for frozen food production.

It's also the home of the world’s biggest pork processor WH Group, which acquired US meat production company Smithfield Food in 2013.

As of late Wednesday, more than 470,000 people and over 55,000 hectares of crops have been affected by the downpours, Xinhua News Agency said, adding the local government had deployed a 76,000-strong search and rescue team.

On Wednesday, rescue workers and authorities continued to work to prevent dam breaches, restore lost power and pump out submerged petrol stations.

China’s military blasted a dam to release floodwaters threatening one of its most heavily populated provinces.

The operation late on Tuesday in the city of Luoyang came after at least 25 people died in Zhengzhou.

President Xi Jinping urged officials to step up disaster relief measures, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

About 260 flights have been cancelled. Inbound flights to Zhengzhou have also been suspended.

Zhengzhou recorded 457.5 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours up to 5pm on Tuesday, the highest since records began for the city of more than 10 million people, Xinhua reported.

That included a record 201.9mm in an hour, from 4pm to 5pm, a record for mainland China. Zhengzhou typically receives average annual precipitation of about 640.8mm.

The record rainfall came shortly after key Chinese cities said homes and factories faced new power failures as historic demand and supply shortages strain energy grids.

To the north of Zhengzhou, the famed Shaolin Temple, known for its Buddhist monks’ mastery of martial arts, was also badly hit.

China experiences regular flooding in summer months, but the growth of cities and conversion of farmland into subdivisions have increased such events.