The torrential rains and floods that hit Beijing have already left 11 dead and 27 missing in the Chinese capital, President Xi Jinping calling on Tuesday to “do everything” to avoid further deaths.
Typhoon Doksuri, downgraded to a storm, has been sweeping across China from southeast to north since Friday, when it hit eastern China’s Fujian province after hitting neighboring Philippines.
Torrential rains began to hit the region on Saturday. In just 40 hours, the Chinese capital has seen the equivalent of the average rainfall for an entire month of July fall.
Some semi-rural districts of Beijing are the most seriously affected by these bad weather, of an intensity unprecedented in the Chinese capital for a decade.
“The heavy rains left at least 11 dead and 27 missing,” state television CCTV said on Tuesday, citing municipal authorities.
Among the dead are a firefighter who was taking part in the rescue operations. In addition, four professional rescue workers from a non-governmental organization who fell into the water are among the missing persons.
More than 100,000 people, among the 22 million inhabitants of Beijing, have been evacuated from the risk areas, according to the state newspaper Global Times.
At the edge of the Mentougou River, which crosses the district of the same name, one of the most affected by the floods in Beijing, AFP journalists saw debris strewn on the road covered in mud.
An elderly man told AFP that he had not seen such severe flooding since July 2012, when 79 people were killed in Beijing and tens of thousands evacuated.
“This time it’s much more serious,” he said.
“It’s a natural disaster, you can’t do anything about it,” said Mr. Qi, a man in his twenties who is waiting for a taxi with his grandmother.
“You have to work hard and rebuild everything.”
AFP journalists saw a dozen vehicles, including tank trucks and bulldozers, heading for the district of Mentougou.
Parts of the road are still closed to traffic and workers in bright orange raincoats use shovels to clear the road.
Xi Jinping called on Tuesday to “do everything” to rescue people “disappeared” or “trapped”, according to CCTV.
Local authorities “must carry out the care of the injured people” as well as “relocate the affected people, quickly repair the damaged transport, communication and electricity infrastructure”, he added.
CCTV on Tuesday morning broadcast images of buses half submerged by the waves in another rural district, that of Fangshan (west of the capital).
About 150,000 homes in Mentougou no longer have access to running water and authorities have dispatched 45 water tankers there to provide emergency supplies, the Beijing Daily, an official newspaper, said on Tuesday.
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 drinking water.
Hebei province (north), neighboring Beijing, is still on red alert for rainfall, with the danger of flash floods and landslides.
In Handan, about 400 km south of Beijing, rescuers managed on Sunday with the help of a crane and a rescuer to extricate a man from his car surrounded by water, before his vehicle was carried away by the flow.
China is experiencing extreme weather and record high temperatures this summer, events that scientists say are exacerbated by climate change.
Rainfall is expected to ease on Tuesday, weather services said.
But the respite could be short-lived as China prepares for the arrival of a new typhoon, Khanun, which is approaching the country’s eastern coasts.
08/01/2023 09:29:43 – Mentougou (Chine) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
