12 people die in flooded subway car during historic rains in China

“I was really scared, but the most terrifying thing was not the water, but the diminishing air supply in the carriage.”President Xi Jinping called the flood control situation “very severe” and ordered authorities to “prioritize the safety of people’s lives and properties,” CNN reported, citing state news agency Xinhua.Footage broadcast by the Chinese outlet shows passengers trapped inside the flooded subway car, packed tightly together as the water climbs higher while dark floodwater surges down the tracks.Many of those trapped posted desperate calls for help on social media.“The water inside the carriage has reached chest-levels! Authorities later confirmed she had been rescued.A woman was captured in one video posted by the BBC being rescued after being swept down a street flooded by muddy water and another clip shows children and teachers being rescued from a flooded school in Zhengzhou.Due to the epic deluge, authorities in the city of 12 million people about 400 miles southwest of Beijing had halted bus services, said a Zhengzhou resident surnamed Guo, who spent the night at his office.“That’s why many people took the subway, and the tragedy happened,” Guo told Reuters.The death toll since the torrential rains began last weekend rose to at least 16 on Wednesday, with four residents reported dead in Gongyi, a city located by the banks of the Yellow River, like Zhengzhou, according to local reports.More rain is forecast across Henan for the next three days, and the People’s Liberation Army has deployed more than 3,000 troops and personnel to help with search and rescue.The rainfall in Zhengzhou in the past three days was on a level seen only “once in a thousand years,” according to local meteorologists.Scientists told Reuters that the extreme rainfall in China was almost certainly linked to global warming, as is the case of the major flooding that has ravaged Western Europe.