Thirty dead as northern China hit by heavy rain, landslides

MIYUN, China: Heavy rain in Beijing killed 30 people and forced authorities to evacuate tens of thousands as swathes of northern China were lashed by torrential downpours that sparked deadly landslides, state media said Tuesday.

Weather authorities have issued their second-highest rainstorm warning for the capital, neighbouring Hebei and Tianjin, as well as ten other provinces in northern, eastern and southern China, state news agency Xinhua said.

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.

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.

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.

In Miyun on Monday, a resident surnamed Liu said he watched floodwater sweep away vehicles outside his apartment block early Monday morning.

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.

‘All-out efforts’

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged authorities late Monday to plan for worst-case scenarios and rush the relocation of residents of flood-threatened areas.

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.

Climate change

Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive climate change and contribute to making extreme weather more frequent and intense.

But it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.