The flooding occurred between Monday and Thursday and affected almost 8.9 million people, the Civil Affairs Department said.
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Torrential rains that have swept through China have killed at least 154 people and left 124 missing, officials said Saturday, with most of the casualties reported from a northern province where villagers complained about lack of warning before a deadly flash flood.
The worst-hit Daxian Village of Xingtai City was nearly empty after a flash flood swamped it early Wednesday morning. At least eight villagers were killed and one missing. Photos circulating online show disturbing images of drowned children lying in mud.
More than 300,000 people were evacuated in Hebei, and the province appropriated tents, blankets, rain boots and generators, the department said.
It was not clear why the local governments did not report news of the flooding and deaths sooner, but it is not unusual for Chinese officials to want to play down bad news. A resident speaking on Hebei Satellite TV said that he was warned only after the water had reached chest-level.
A video of him kneeling before distraught, wailing relatives who lost family members was spread on social media, showing three distraught women clutching at his arm while asking how many had died.
Concerns were raised, however, after suggestions the Daxian flash flood was a result of a human-made fault, rather than the breaking of a levee, as officials claimed.
“Not to notify villagers about the Xingtai flood wasn’t just an abandonment of the officials’ duty – it was essentially manslaughter”, wrote one incensed user of China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblog on Saturday.
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Northern China has dealt with flooding during the summer monsoon season before, but this year’s rain was one of the heaviest.
