When the rains started, residents in Taishitun were not overly worried. The rural township, about 70 miles northeast of central Beijing, sits on a plain far from mountains that could generate mudslides and had no recent history of flooding.
Though it is near the convergence of three rivers, the closest is about a quarter of a mile away and feeds into a massive reservoir downstream.
So it came as a shock when that river, the Qingshui, suddenly burst through its flood banks in the early hours of July 28, sending torrents of water through the streets. Residents ran outside, yelling at their neighbors to wake up, and scrambled onto rooftops.
One of the first buildings to be inundated was the Taishitun Elderly Care Center. Inside, 55 of the 69 residents were either fully or partially incapacitated and dependent on the eight workers there that day to move. The one-story nursing home was soon submerged in six feet of water.
Firefighters arrived around 7 a.m. but were overpowered by currents that, at their peak, were flowing faster than the Niagara Falls. They began rescue operations only three hours later. Footage on Chinese state media showed rescue workers with ropes, swimming into the nursing home to reach people clinging to windowsills. But many of the residents had already perished. In total, 31 people died — a toll that shocked the capital and beyond.
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