Story highlights Residents of Beijing's Fangshan district are angry at authorities' response

Water marks some two meters high are visible on the exterior walls of a dozen houses

Some villagers blame local officials for decision to cover a former waterway with concrete

Authorities insist on need to prioritize effort; district has 800,000 affected residents

Four days after the biggest rainstorm in six decades hit the Chinese capital, Zhang Huishen remains furious over what she perceives as government indifference to her family's plight.

"Our family of five lives off one income," said the 46-year-old farmer Wednesday. "Nobody cares about us because there's no official in this household."

Zhang lives along what once was a paved road in the small village of Louzishui in Beijing's southwestern Fangshan district, the area hit hardest by the storm last weekend.

A flashflood has reduced the road to a muddy path littered with furniture, clothes and even a tin shed -- all objects washed away by powerful waters.

Water marks some two meters high stay visible on the exterior walls of a dozen houses by the road, while mud piles stand outside doorways with flies circling around garbage nearby.

Zhang says she largely relies on her husband's monthly wage of $300 to take care of her family that includes the couple, their two children and her sick father-in-law.

"Everything was floating in water -- refrigerator, television, everything," she said while showing a CNN crew her just-dried kitchen and living room. "I borrowed money to renovate the house and lost more than 100,000 yuan ($15,000)."

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Zhang and her neighbors alike remember a fearful night spent in dark attics or higher ground after carrying the elderly and children out of fast-rising water -- all the while unable to reach anyone at the city's flood control hotline.

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One neighbor, Gao Liying, added that she feels even more shaken by the village officials' response when she told them the flood has ruined almost all her worldly possessions.

Photos: Flooding in Beijing Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – A woman cleans mud from her home in the Fangshan district of Beijing, China, July 25, 2012. Fangshan suffered some of the worst damage after the heaviest rain in 60 years. Hide Caption 1 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – A man slogs through mud past damaged vehicles after flooding Tuesday, July 24, in Laishui, China, north of Beijing. The heaviest rain in 60 years submerged large parts of the Chinese capital. Hide Caption 2 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing china flood fangshan – A woman cleans mud from her home in the Fangshan district of Beijing, China, July 25, 2012 Hide Caption 3 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – Weekend flooding leaves vehicles tossed about on roads in Laishui, a town in northern China's Hebei province. Hide Caption 4 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – Water pours over a collapsed bridge leading to Laishui on Tuesday. The heavy rains have affected more than 6 million people in China. Hide Caption 5 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – A farmer stands in his flooded field on the outskirts of Chongqing in southwest China on Sunday, July 22. Hide Caption 6 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – The downpour causes chaos on a flooded Beijing street on Saturday, July 21. About 6.7 inches of rain fell in some parts of the Chinese capital and as much as 18 inches in the suburban Fangshan district. Hide Caption 7 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – A cyclist rides through a flooded street in Beijing during heavy rainfall Saturday. More rain is forecast as Beijing cleans up after the weekend downpour. Hide Caption 8 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – Municipal workers try to clear water on a section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau expressway, where more than 80 cars were submerged on Monday, July 23, in Beijing. Hide Caption 9 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – Soldiers try to clear water on a section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao expressway on July 23, 2012 in Beijing, China. Hide Caption 10 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – Rescuers evacuate an elderly woman from her flooded home in Chongqing, southwest China, July 23, 2012. Hide Caption 11 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – As the floodwater cleared, the damage became clearer. These cars are wedged in a hole in Beijing, July 23, 2012. Hide Caption 12 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – A farmer piles up chickens that drowned at a flooded farm in the outskirts of Chongqing, China, July 22. Hide Caption 13 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – Two men watch as emergency services personnel try to retrieve a damaged bus which was submerged in a flooded carpark after a storm hit Beijing, July 22, 2012. Hide Caption 14 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – Emergency services personnel try to retrieve damaged vehicles submerged in a flooded carpark after a storm hit Beijing, July 22. Hide Caption 15 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – A Beijing resident carrying buckets of water as she makes her way home through a storm on Saturday, July 21. Hide Caption 16 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – Commuters make their way home through roadside debris as a storm hits Beijing, July 21. Hide Caption 17 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in China – A resident checks his damaged home after a storm hit the city, July 22. Hide Caption 18 of 19 Photos: Flooding in Beijing Flooding in Beijing – A flood-swept car is lodged against a building at a railway crossing in Beijing on Saturday, July 21. Hide Caption 19 of 19

"They actually said: 'If your house didn't collapse and nobody died, then you're not a victim,'" she said, raising her voice. "I asked: are you still human?"

Villagers like Zhang and Gao blame local officials for their decision to cover a former waterway with concrete -- thus turning it to a road and diminishing drainage capacity -- and their failure to warn residents before the storm.

"It was more than a natural disaster," Gao said. "The officials are responsible too."

Fangshan authorities have acknowledged shortcomings in the local drainage system, telling reporters they have learned their lessons and will address people's concerns. They also insist the need to prioritize their effort in a district where the storm has affected 800,000 residents, cost at least $1 billion in economic losses, and the death toll is expected to rise significantly.

For some villagers of Louzishui, however, such words hardly resonate. As loudspeakers mounted throughout the village began to broadcast propaganda messages touting rapid government aid to victims, Liu Wenzhi scoffed.

"Why bother howling now? Where were they when we needed help?" the 60-year-old resident asked. "This is a place led by the Communist Party. Where is our equality?"

Not long after the loudspeakers turned quiet, local officials showed up in two white vans to deliver bottled water, instant noodles and blankets to residents affected by the flood.

A shouting match soon broke out between a village Party official and a resident living by the water-ripped road whose home was totally flooded.

"I have to take the overall situation into consideration -- there are many others who are much worse off than you," the official shouted at a fuming Zhang Chunrong.

"I don't want your damn stuff," Zhang yelled back.

"My husband is a Party member so I was asked to keep quiet," she later explained, wiping tears off. "But I can't bear it anymore -- how dare he come to my home to insult me by saying my loss is nothing?"