BEIJING — At least 38 people have died in the Chinese capital region after it was battered by almost a year’s worth of rain in a handful of days, setting off flooding and landslides, cutting off power and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
The heaviest toll was reported in the Chinese capital of Beijing, where 30 people died, followed by its neighboring province of Hebei with eight fatalities, state-run broadcaster CCTV reported Tuesday.
Intense rainstorms started to hit many parts of northern China as early as Friday, according to the country’s Meteorological Administration.
In an order issued on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country was at a “critical” stage of its summer flood season, urging local officials to prioritize saving lives.
The Chinese central government said Tuesday that it had allocated 350 million yuan ($48 million) in disaster relief funds to flood-struck places such as Beijing and Hebei.
The heaviest downpours in Beijing occurred in the mountainous northern districts of Miyun, where 28 people died, and Yanqing, where two people died, officials said Tuesday, calling the extreme weather event “rare and highly destructive.”
By midnight on Monday, parts of Miyun had received up to about 21 inches of rain, state-backed newspaper Beijing News reported, almost as much as the approximately 23 inches Beijing receives all year.
The rain prompted Beijing officials to issue the highest level of rainstorm alert for the first time this year.
The rain damaged over 30 sections of road and cut off power in more than 130 villages, and about 80,000 Beijing residents were evacuated to safety, CCTV said.
A man surnamed Dong, whose home in Miyun district was flooded, said the waters had carried away his washing machine and two cars.
“I’m 70 and I’ve never seen such a big flood,” Dong told Sky News on Tuesday.
“If me and my wife didn’t climb up to the roof, it would be over for us,” he added.
Li Xiaoya, a 27-year-old editor in Beijing, said he was on a weekend trip to Miyun with his friends when they were woken up early Sunday by their homestay host and told to evacuate.
“I stepped outside only to find that the streets were flooded,” Li told NBC News via messaging app on Tuesday. “I waded through the water to reach the main road, where I saw that most of the villagers had already evacuated to higher ground.”
Li and his fellow travelers drove back to the city safely when daylight broke and the water level largely dropped.
As of 7 a.m. Tuesday local time (7 p.m. Monday ET), Beijing had lowered its rainstorm alert, allowing parks and tourist attractions to reopen.
While the extreme weather in the north is set to gradually weaken, heavy rain will shift to eastern China as the coastal region braces for Typhoon Co-may which is expected to land Wednesday, CCTV reported.
Beijing frequently experiences flooding in summer. In 2023, severe flooding in the city left at least 33 people dead, according to the state-run newspaper People’s Daily.
Fred Dufour reported from Beijing, and Peter Guo and Eve Qiao reported from Hong Kong.
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