The severe weather continued to cause flooding in more cities and destroy crops as it moved northwards. The official Xinhua news agency reported economic losses of 1.22 billion yuan ($189 million) so far. The storm alert for four cities in the north of Henan - Xinxiang, Anyang, Hebi, and Jiaozuo - was raised to red by the provincial weather bureau on Thursday, which is the highest level of a four-step colour-coded weather warning system. Fatalities included 12 people who died in the flooded subway in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, about 650 km (400 miles) southwest of Beijing, earlier this week. Eight people are still missing in the province. More than 73,000 people were evacuated from the city of Anyang, on Henan's border with Hebei province, after experiencing over 600 mm of rainfall since Monday, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Xinhua reported that Xinxiang, a small city located north of Zhengzhou, received a total of 812 mm of rainfall between Tuesday and Thursday, breaking local meteorological records. The excessive rain caused seven medium-sized reservoirs in the city to overflow, impacting numerous nearby villages and towns. By late Wednesday, more than 470,000 individuals and over 55,000 hectares of crops had been affected by the heavy rain in Xinxiang. The local government responded by deploying a search and rescue team consisting of over 76,000 members. In the neighboring province of Hebei, two individuals lost their lives due to a tornado in the city of Baoding. Following the tragic flooding of the Zhengzhou subway, the government mandated that local authorities immediately enhance urban transit flood controls and emergency responses. Media images depicted commuters stranded in flooded subway cars up to their chests in water with no light. An underground station was transformed into a swirling pool due to heavy rainfall. The Ministry of Transport urged local authorities to address and fix all potential risks on rail transit immediately. The ministry emphasized the need for emergency actions, like suspending trains, evacuating passengers, and closing stations during unusually intense storms. Zhengzhou received 617.1 mm (24.3 inches) of rainfall from Saturday to Tuesday, almost matching the city's average annual rainfall of 640.8 mm (25.2 inches). The local meteorological services have come under public scrutiny for the timeliness of their weather bulletins. The provincial weather bureau stated that they had issued a report two days before the torrential rains. From Monday evening onwards, meteorological departments at various levels have sent out 120 million text messages to mobile phone users to warn them about the storms, as reported by the Henan weather bureau.