By Emily Gu
Zhengzhou, which is located in China’s central Henan province, has been doused by intense torrential rains, which caused the massive flooding. At least 25 have died, 7 people have gone missing, and 100,000 people were, fortunately, relocated to safety.
Zhengzhou, which was a very important assembly plant for Apple and an industrial hub, is run by Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn. Foxconn has said that its operations were not affected by the floods.
Apple did not respond for comment. However, CEO Tim Cook responded on the “Chinese Twitter” which was called Weibo.
“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the flooding across Henan province, and the first responders helping people get to safety,” Cook said, also adding that Apple would be donating to help the effort.
Several other technology companies, such as Tencent, Alibaba, and Tik-Tok owner ByteDance would also be pledging to help the efforts.
Chinese president Xi Jinping said the flooding was “extremely severe,” according to his comments published by the official Xinhua news agency. There were also unverified videos posted on Chinese social media such as Weibo, showing people trapped on a train with water up to their chests. Other images have shown cars floating in the flooded streets.
Zhengzhou has temporarily disabled its subway networks while hundreds of flights were cancelled. The army has also been called in to help.
State-backed newspaper Xinhua, citing the chief forecaster for the area, has said that the heavy rainfall is expected to continue until Wednesday evening.