On August 7th, after months of drought in Henan province, the provincial capital Zhengzhou suddenly experienced a water disaster. Heavy rainfall within a short period of time led to flooding of houses and cars in the city, closure of tunnels, and the city announcing emergency shutdowns of work, classes, and transportation. Zhengzhou residents claimed that this was a disaster caused by artificial rain brought by the authorities.
According to an official WeChat account “Dengfeng News” on August 5th, Dengfeng City will conduct artificial rain operations from August 6th to August 10th based on weather conditions and airspace applications.
Public data shows that Dengfeng City is a county-level city in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, located in a transitional zone between mountains and plains.
During a report by Henan Emergency Broadcasting on August 6th regarding the artificial rainfall in Zhengzhou, it was explicitly stated that the Zhengzhou Meteorological Bureau initiated artificial rain operations upon knowing that there would be showers, thunderstorms, and severe convective weather in the coming days. The report mentioned, “The Zhengzhou Meteorological Bureau issued weather information at 14:00 on the 5th, with showers and thunderstorms from the 6th to the 7th, and moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms from the 8th to the 9th, with locally heavy to torrential rain.”
“This round of precipitation process showed a clear convective characteristic, with intense rain in some areas, which is beneficial for alleviating the current severe heat and drought conditions. At the same time, the meteorological department will seize the favorable opportunity to carry out artificial rain operations.”
According to Henan Broadcasting and Television’s live broadcast program “Live in Henan” on August 6th, starting from August 5th, more than ten cities and counties including Zhoukou, Luohe, and Zhoukou successively issued announcements to implement artificial rain from August 5th to 11th.
During the report by Henan Emergency Broadcasting, concerns were raised about the possibility of abrupt changes from drought to floods in Zhengzhou, with a warning to be vigilant and take preventive measures.
In the early hours of August 7th, Zhengzhou residents heard the sounds of artificial rainfall being launched at 00:30 and recorded video clips, which were shared on social media platforms.
On the afternoon of the 7th, Mr. Li, a resident of Zhengzhou, told a reporter from Epoch Times, “There was a short rain in the early morning around five o’clock today, and then it started around nine o’clock. It started as moderate rain, but later turned into heavy rain intermittently, with moderate rain in between. It began to stop after four-thirty in the afternoon. In the Central Plains area of Zhengzhou, the land slopes lower towards the east. In some places, the water flooded up to the car doors, and in certain areas, the rooftops were almost submerged.”
At 12:37 on August 7th, the Zhengzhou Meteorological Observatory issued an upgrade from a yellow rainstorm warning to an orange rainstorm warning, with parts of the main urban area experiencing severe rain and heavy rain.
A report by mainland media “Caixin” stated that the rainfall in the Central Plains area of Zhengzhou was equivalent to 1.2 times the volume of the West Lake. Another report by “Dynamic Guizhou” from the mainland mentioned that the main urban area of Zhengzhou encountered heavy rain, and within just ten minutes, the roadways were submerged.
The State Emergency Broadcasting on the mainland reported on August 7th that the main urban area of Zhengzhou experienced heavy rain and severe rain, with the maximum precipitation reaching 187 millimeters, and seven sites recording rainfall between 100-249 millimeters. The local flood prevention emergency response was increased from level four to level three, leading to immediate production, business, class, and transportation suspensions, as well as a halt to collective outdoor activities.
Mr. Li believed that the rainfall this time was fierce and was definitely caused by artificial rainfall. “Dengfeng is under the jurisdiction of Zhengzhou. Natural disasters are also caused by human factors. The evil communist party does not believe in the heavens, does not respect the heavens, changes the climate arbitrarily, and the backlash is collectively shared. Blindly reckless, in line with the characteristics of the Chinese Communist Party.”
He further emphasized, “The Chinese Communist Party takes political leadership, does not follow scientific principles, and changes things arbitrarily. Just like forcing vaccinations, forcefully injecting ‘heaven,’ the result is a disastrous one. Going against nature, committing numerous evils.”
In the comments section on social media under the artificial rainfall news, some netizens from Henan expressed confusion, “What’s the use of artificial rainfall in Zhengzhou? They don’t farm there anyway.”
Other netizens mentioned that excessive artificial rainfall can turn into a disaster.
Aside from exacerbating the flooding in Zhengzhou, artificial rainfall in more than ten cities in Henan Province failed to achieve the expected results. In the comments section under the news about artificial rain on “Live in Henan,” over 1,600 responses mostly expressed dissatisfaction among local netizens towards artificial rainfall.
Local residents directly criticized the ineffectiveness of artificial rainfall: “In Zhoukou, the rain fell in the city area, but not in the villages.” “Where did the rain in Luohe go? There was not a single drop here.” “Zhengzhou had heavy rain, but Luoyang didn’t see any rain.” “Zhumadian in Henan didn’t receive any rain.” “In Aigang Township, Xihua County, not even an hour’s worth of rain fell in two days.”
Many people criticized the artificial rainfall for being misplaced: “The rain is falling on the city dwellers, not the farmers.” “The rural areas are not wet at all! Rain is only poured on the cities! Then the cities get flooded! The places where crops are grown are still dry!” “How absurd, in June and July when it was so hot and dry, they didn’t increase precipitation. And now, they’ve caused flooding. Doing stupid things!” “The urban area is flooded! If it doesn’t reach the ground, how can it help combat drought? Where’s the rain today?”
Many individuals also condemned the Chinese Communist Party for disrupting the natural ecosystem: “Please do not disrupt natural laws. Let droughts and floods occur naturally.” “Artificial rainfall disturbs natural laws.” “This normal weather mess was caused by your artificial rain and disrupted meteorological patterns.” “When it rains, it’s all because of you. The rain is fired down with cannons!” “Drought relief subsidies, someone else benefits. If you don’t take it, someone else will.”
Professor Feng Chongyi from the University of Technology Sydney analyzed for Epoch Times that the Chinese Communist Party’s created disasters not only include various political persecutions, but they also use Marxist materialism theories and the ideological mindset of fighting against nature to transform people. The CCP has been doing this for more than seventy years since taking power, he said.
He further stated, “The CCP is an extremely arrogant and ignorant regime, with a very evil ideology, trying to enforce its will on society as well as on nature. This is a very frightening and evil force. As a popular folk rhyme goes, it manages the heavens above, the earth below, the weather in between, and even the air.”
He emphasized, “This authoritarian regime wants to control everything. As its lust for power expands, it brings endless disasters to the country and the people. The rainmaking, cloud seeding, and construction of reservoirs are all the evil consequences of this mindset. Each time, it deceives the public under the guise of noble goals, but all outcomes bring disasters to the people.”
Feng Chongyi shared his experience within the country, saying, “For most of my primary school days, we were involved in ‘changing the mountains and rivers.’ At the time, there was a river in my hometown called Jiuxu River, and another one called Longgunchuan River, both naturally winding rivers. We were not doing farming work then, and all the commune members were gathered to straighten this river, claiming that the reason for flooding was that the water in the winding river couldn’t flow into the sea quickly enough. So they abandoned the original riverbed and straightened it out to the shortest path to the sea.”
“As a result, after the tide rose, all the sea water flowed back in. The farmland in these areas became salinized and abandoned. After the rainfall, since the straightened river water level was almost the same as the sea level, the water couldn’t be drained, causing even larger floods than before.”