Floods spark reshuffle in Zhengzhou

The leadership of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, which was ravaged by catastrophic flooding last year, has been reshuffled as central authorities sum up lessons from the city's inadequate emergency response to extreme rainfall, a phenomenon likely to become more frequent amid global warming.

On Thursday, Zhengzhou's legislature appointed He Xiong, who previously headed the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, as the city's acting mayor. The appointment came six days after the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a report on its investigation of the devastating flooding.

From July 17 to 23, floods triggered by "historically rare" torrential rains left 398 people dead or missing in Henan. The vast majority of the casualties happened in Zhengzhou, though it only suffered about one-third of the total economic losses of about 120 billion yuan ($18.9 billion) across the province.

On Jan 21, authorities also announced punishments for 90 officials in Henan in relation to the disaster, including five leading officials of Zhengzhou. The city's former top two officials－Party secretary Xu Liyi and mayor Hou Hong－were not only ousted, but also received Party warnings and administrative demotions.

An Wei, 55, was appointed Zhengzhou Party secretary the same day. An was previously Party chief of Zhoukou, Henan.

The reshuffle followed an unprecedented national investigation into a regional natural disaster, in which investigators examined over 90,000 government documents, conducted more than 100 field surveys, held almost 200 investigatory discussions and summoned roughly 450 people.

The rare casualties and economic losses from the catastrophic flooding, triggered by extreme weather events, had exposed a series of acute problems, the Ministry of Emergency Management, which headed the investigation, said in a news release.

When the city was engulfed by extreme downpours, there was no coordinated response under unified command in Zhengzhou. The city's top leaders and other leading officials only devoted themselves to certain locations.

"At critical moments, there was no leading official in the command center. They didn't know the general situation of the disaster in the city. Neither did they manage to learn about major hazards in a timely manner," it said, adding they lost the initiative to cope with the disaster.

Investigators also identified multiple violations on withholding or covering up information regarding death tolls. They concluded that the death toll in the floods was underreported by 139 at one stage.

Another major concern of the State Council that prompted the launch of such an unprecedented investigation was that risks from extreme weather events are looming larger amid global warming, it said.

"Against the backdrop of climate change, the risks from natural disasters have been mounting," it said. "Extreme weather events not only tend to be more devastating but also increasingly frequent."

China may suffer more extreme torrential rains like the ones that hit Zhengzhou. Such a thorough, problem-oriented investigation could help draw instructive lessons for regions across the country, making them better prepared to cope with emerging challenges, the release said.

Lacking vigilance, Zhengzhou's leading officials held an experience-based belief that rains in northern China would not be too heavy, and they didn't expect that the rains could result in serious urban inundation and mountain torrents, it said, adding that such a mindset can also be found among some other officials in northern parts of the country.

Construction of drainage facilities in Zhengzhou has lagged far behind its pace of urbanization, it said, with the total length of rainwater pipes in the city only about half that of other cities of the same size.

"This is also a common problem in some regions," the news release said.