Ministry: Rectify all risks on rail transit
The Chinese government ordered local authorities to immediately improve urban transit flood controls and emergency responses after a dozen people were killed in a submerged subway amid torrential rains.
The Ministry of Transport said local authorities must immediately re-examine and rectify all hidden risks on rail transit.
"They must take emergency measures such as suspending trains, evacuating passengers, and closing stations in atypical situations such as excessively intense storms," the ministry said.
Hundreds of people were pulled to safety earlier this week from the flooded subway in Zhengzhou, capital city of central China's Henan Province.
Media images showed commuters immersed in chest-deep waters in lightless cabins. One underground station was reduced to a large churning pool.
Some 617.1mm of rain fell in Zhengzhou from Saturday to Tuesday, almost the equivalent of the city's annual average of 640.8mm.
Public scrutiny has also fallen on the timeliness of weather bulletins provided by local meteorological services.
The provincial weather bureau told state media it had issued a report warning of the coming torrential rains two days in advance.
Since Monday evening, meteorological departments from the provincial down to the county level have sent out 120 million text messages to mobile phone users warning them of the storms, the Henan weather bureau said.
