For several days now, Beijing and its surroundings have been hit by torrential rains and terrible floods. Typhoon Doksuri, downgraded to a storm, which has been sweeping China from southeast to north since Friday July 28 has already claimed at least 20 lives and 19 missing in the Chinese capital and the neighboring province, announced state television CCTV, which quotes the municipal authorities in charge of the fight against floods, this Tuesday, August 1.
After affecting the neighboring Philippines and the province of Fujian (east), torrential rains began to fall on the capital on Saturday. In just forty hours, the equivalent of the average rainfall for an entire month of July fell. Roads were submerged and lines of communication cut off.
In Beijing, heavy rains in the capital killed at least 11 people, including a firefighter who was involved in rescue operations, state television CCTV said. Thirteen people remain missing, while fourteen others, whose rescuers had no news, have been located. In total, more than 100,000 people, among the 22 million inhabitants of the capital, have been evacuated from risk areas, according to the state newspaper Global Times.
In Hebei province, neighboring Beijing, bad weather has left at least nine dead and six missing, according to CCTV.
“Everything must be done to find and rescue those missing or trapped,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose remarks were reported by CCTV. With four helicopters, a group of 26 soldiers transported, Tuesday morning to Mentougou, food, water, blankets or even rain gear to travelers whose trains were blocked due to bad weather, according to CCTV.
The capital’s western mountainous districts “as well as other places in Beijing suffered severe water damage, including the blockage of three transiting trains and the complete blockage of road traffic in some areas” , the channel pointed out. CCTV broadcast on Tuesday morning live images of buses half submerged by the waves in another rural district, that of Fangshan (west of the capital).
Chinese media on Monday published footage of chaotic scenes on high-speed trains, some stuck on the tracks for 30 hours, with passengers complaining of running out of food and water. About 150,000 households in Mentougou, a district of Beijing, no longer have access to running water and authorities have dispatched 45 water tankers there to provide emergency supplies, the Beijing Daily, a daily newspaper, reported on Tuesday. official.
Beijing and the neighboring province of Hebei (north) have been placed on red alert for rainfall and geological hazards, with the danger of flash floods and landslides. In the medium-sized city of Handan, about 400 km south of Beijing, rescuers on Sunday managed to extricate a man from his car surrounded by water, using a crane, before his vehicle was swept away by the current.
China is experiencing extreme weather and record high temperatures this summer, events that scientists say are exacerbated by climate change. According to Chinese experts quoted by the media, the current heavy rains could cause even more serious flooding than in July 2012 in Beijing, when 79 people were killed and tens of thousands evacuated.
Rainfall is expected to ease significantly on Tuesday, according to meteorological services. But the respite could be short-lived as China braces for a new typhoon, Khanun, approaching the country’s eastern shores.
