Key points
- More than 80,000 Beijing residents relocated
- Beijing issued highest-level rain, flood alerts
- Authorities allocate funds, urge relief efforts
ISLAMABAD: Thirty people were killed in Beijing as of midnight on Monday as almost a year’s worth of rain hit the capital in a matter of days, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
The deaths were reported in Beijing’s mountainous northern districts, with 28 in Miyun and two in Yanqing. State media did not specify when or how the deaths occurred, according to Reuters.
Authorities in China’s capital have relocated 80,000 people as more rain is forecast for Tuesday.
The rains are expected to last into Wednesday, it added.
As of midnight Monday, “the latest round of heavy rainstorms has left 30 people dead in Beijing”, Xinhua said, citing the city’s municipal flood control headquarters.
Evacuation
Over 80,000 people have been evacuated in the Chinese capital alone, local state-run outlet Beijing Daily said on social media.
The death toll was highest in Miyun, a suburban district northeast of the city centre, it said.
“This time the rain was unusually heavy, it’s not normally like this,” a resident of Miyun, surnamed Jiang, told AFP as water streamed down the road outside her house.
“The road is full of water so people aren’t going to work,” she said.
Also badly affected were Huairou district in the north of the city and Fangshan in the southwest, state media said.
Dozens of roads have been closed and over 130 villages have lost electricity, Beijing Daily said.
“Please pay attention to weather forecasts and warnings and do not go to risk areas unless necessary,” the outlet said.
In Miyun on Monday, a resident surnamed Liu said he watched floodwater sweep away vehicles outside his apartment block early Monday morning.
Rescue efforts
AFP journalists there saw a crawler lift people and a dog to safety as rescuers waded through water up to their knees.
Nearby, in the town of Mujiayu, AFP journalists saw a reservoir release a torrent of water.
Power lines were swept away by muddy currents while military vehicles and ambulances ploughed flooded streets.
Firefighters also rescued 48 people trapped in an elderly care centre, CCTV reported.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged authorities late Monday to plan for worst-case scenarios and rush the relocation of residents of flood-threatened areas.
Beijing Daily said local officials had “made all-out efforts to search and rescue missing persons… and made every effort to reduce casualties”.
Disaster relief
The government has allocated 350 million yuan ($49 million) for disaster relief in nine regions hit by heavy rains, state broadcaster CCTV said Tuesday.
They include northern Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, northeastern Jilin, eastern Shandong and southern Guangdong.
A separate 200 million yuan has been set aside for the capital, the broadcaster said.
In Hebei province, which encircles the capital, a landslide in a village near the city of Chengde killed four people, with eight still missing, CCTV reported Monday.
Local authorities have issued flash flood warnings through Tuesday evening, with Chengde and surrounding areas under the highest alert, Hebei’s radio and television station said.
In 2023, heavy rain killed over 80 people across northern and northeastern China, including at least 29 people in Hebei where severe flooding destroyed homes and crop fields.
