After torrential rains last week triggered flash floods in the region, which suffered power and telecommunication outages, the public responded with outrage.
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Photo taken on July 24, 2016 shows a house destroyed in floods in Daxian Village of Xingtai City, north China’s Hebei Province.
AUTHORITIES in the Hebei provincial government has suspended four local officials for their inadequate responses to the floods that have killed 114 people over the past week, with 111 others still missing.
It further added that all officials will be subjected to an accountability investigation and could face further punishments.
Officials who poorly implemented flood-prevention measures will be suspended from their duties and investigated, he said.
Eighteen people were recovered today in China’s Anyang City, Henan Province.
In one city, Xingtai, at least 25 people died, prompting people to demonstrate against the government for failing to warn them of the flooding. Netizens also accused officials of “ineffective rescue efforts and trying to cover up the cause of the disaster”, Xinhua News Agency reported. Complaints mounted that authorities had not informed them of the flooding threat and had failed to organize timely evacuation. “We had no time to make preparations”.
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Rain affected more than 14.76 million people in 10 provincial-level regions, including the hardest hit provinces of Henan and Hebei, forcing the relocation of 5.14 lakh people. A number of major cities in the central and northern parts of the country have also been submerged following the heavy rainfall.
