Key points
- Authorities warn locals to stay vigilant against natural disasters
- People “must not let up after strong rains have passed” as landslides may follow: Officials
- China’s public security ministry has warned people to be on guard against “rumours”
ISLAMABAD: Beijing lifted a severe weather alert on Tuesday but warned locals to stay vigilant against natural disasters after authorities evacuated over 82,000 people due to fears of more deadly floods in the Chinese capital city.
AFP reported that the municipal weather office had imposed a red rainstorm warning — the highest in a four-tier system — on Monday, forecasting heavy downpours until Tuesday morning.
The office lifted the alert early Tuesday morning, saying in a statement the weather system had weakened as it drifted eastwards.
Heavy rainfall
But it continued to warn of isolated downpours across outlying parts of the city, adding that people “must not let up after strong rains have passed” as landslides or other disasters may follow.
China’s state news agency Xinhua reported, citing the city’s flood control headquarters that authorities evacuated over 82,000 people at risk from heavy rainfall as of Monday evening.
Officials warned of flooding risks in the northeastern suburb of Miyun — the hardest hit by the recent deluge — as well as southwestern Fangshan, western Mentougou and northern Huairou, according to AFP.
Last week, floods in Beijing’s northern suburbs killed at least 44 people and left nine missing, according to official figures.
Restoring order
AFP reported that at a meeting on Monday, the municipal government stressed the need to “restore the normal order of life and production in post-disaster areas as quickly as possible”.
China’s public security ministry has also warned people to be on guard against “rumours”, including exaggerating the extent of natural disasters to create panic, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday.
China has been lashed by heavy rains in recent weeks, with heavy flooding in the north followed by intense precipitation along the southern coast, AFP reported.
