Fallout from the Flooding

Weather forecasts are predicting intermittent thunderstorms through Saturday. Meanwhile, stormclouds of anxiety and recrimination from last weekend's rain disaster continue to hover over the landscape.

• Beijing’s mayor and vice-mayor have stepped down. Depending on who you believe, their departure may or may not be related to the city’s heavily criticized response to last Saturday's flooding.

• Beijing netizens are taking flood survival into their own hands, sharing flood maps of the areas most hazardous during heavy rainfall. See examples here and here.

• Just how afraid are people of drowning in their cars? Taobao sales of safety hammers to Beijing customers have rocketed to six times the normal daily sales volume. These multipurpose tools feature a window-breaking hammer, seat belt cutter, flashing beacon and flashlight.

• Unfortunately, according to a special hands-on investigation by the Shanghai Morning Post, those safety hammers are unequal to the task that most are buying it for. Reporters from the newspaper tested out several methods of breaking a car window. Regular hammers smashed the glass handily. A car key tucked between the knuckles of a fist did nothing. The safety hammers tended to break when smashed against the window (without actually breaking the window). The headrest can also do the job, when applied properly.

• Forewarned is forearmed, yes? Knowing in advance to expect dangerous torrential rains could have saved many residents, say web commenters, who wonder why all Beijing residents couldn’t be notified via text messages to mobile phones. The Beijing Meterological Bureau has come under criticism for dismissing that plan as impossible. Blogger C. Custer takes issue with that claim.

Photo: abandonthecube.com, Hexun.com