As the death toll from extensive flooding rose to at least 25, China’s military blew up a dam to discharge floodwaters threatening one of the country’s most densely populated regions. The city of Luoyang completed a dam operation late on July 20, night, just as catastrophic floods engulfed the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, trapping commuters and stranding them at schools. A total of seven people have been reported missing, according to provincial officials at a press briefing.

Subway riders were seen standing in chest-high dirty brown water as torrents raged outside the tunnel, according to a video released on Twitter by news site The Paper.

Rain has turned streets into fast-flowing rivers, sweeping cars away and causing transportation and job disruptions across the province. According to Caixin, a business news magazine, at least ten trains carrying about 10,000 passengers were delayed, three of which were halted for more than 40 hours. The rain forced the closure of sections of 26 motorways, according to the Transport Ministry’s social media account.

According to the city’s Communist Party committee, a blackout cut off ventilators at Zhengzhou University’s First Affiliated Hospital, forcing personnel to rely on hand-pumped airbags to help patients breathe. Over 600 people were being moved to different hospitals, according to the report