At least 20 people were killed and 19 were missing after heavy rains lashed Beijing and surrounding provinces, state media said Tuesday, in downpours that have submerged roads and deluged neighbourhoods with mud.
Storm Doksuri, a former super typhoon, swept northwards over China after hitting southern Fujian province on Friday, following its battering of the Philippines.
Heavy rains began pummelling the capital and surrounding areas on Saturday, with nearly the average rainfall for the entire month of July dumped on Beijing in just 40 hours.
Swaths of suburban Beijing remain badly hit by the rains – some of the city’s heaviest in years.
On the banks of the Mentougou river, one of the worst affected areas, AFP reporters saw muddy debris strewn across the road.
One man told AFP he had not seen flooding this bad since July 2012, when 79 people were killed and tens of thousands evacuatedOn Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported the rains had killed at least 11 people and that 27 were missing. Among the dead were two workers “killed on duty during rescue and relief” efforts, it said.
More than 100,000 people across the city deemed at risk had been evacuated, state-owned tabloid The Global Times reported.
On the banks of the Mentougou river, one of the areas worst affected by the flooding, AFP reporters saw muddy debris strewn across the road.
One local elderly man told AFP he had not seen flooding this bad since July 2012, when 79 people were killed and tens of thousands evacuated.
“This time it’s much bigger than that,” he said, declining to give his name.
“It’s a natural disaster, there’s nothing you can do,” a man in his 20s surnamed Qi told AFP as he waited for a taxi outside a hospital with his grandmother.
“(We) still have to work hard and rebuild,” he added.
About a dozen emergency vehicles, including trucks with water tanks and bulldozers, were spotted on the road between Shijingshan and Mentougou districts.
Parts of the road were still closed off and workers in bright orange raincoats used shovels to clear the road.
Chaotic scenes
President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for “every effort” to rescue those “lost or trapped” by the rains.
Local authorities “must do a good job in treating the injured and comforting the families of victims, and minimize casualties”, CCTV quoted Xi as saying.
“They must properly relocate affected people, work quickly to repair damaged transportation, communication and electricity infrastructure, and restore the order of normal production and life as soon as possible,” he added.
“Xi Jinping emphasised that it is currently the critical period for flood control in late July and early August,” state media said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended the Pakistani nation’s condolences over the lives lost in the torrential rainfall. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost their loved ones,” he said.
“Pakistan and China are enduring friends and partners sharing weal and woe. The entire Pakistani nation stands by our Chinese brothers and sisters in this hour of grief,” he said.
“I also extend my best wishes for the ongoing relief and rescue efforts, and we are ready to extend all possible assistance,” PM Shehbaz added.
