HONG KONG: Heavy rain intensified around Beijing and nearby provinces on Monday (Jul 28), with four people killed in a landslide in northern Hebei and eight people missing, as authorities warned of intensifying conditions and heightened disaster risks in the coming days.
Authorities relocated more than 4,400 people as colossal rain continued to pound the suburban area of Miyun in Beijing causing flash floods and landslides, impacting many villages, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Images circulated on China’s WeChat app showed areas of Miyun where cars and trucks were floating on a flooded road where water levels had risen so high that it had submerged part of a residential building.
Electricity cuts are also affecting more than 10,000 people, in the area, CCTV said.
Northern China has seen record precipitation in recent years, exposing densely populated cities, including Beijing, to flood risks. Some scientists link the increased rainfall in China’s usually arid north to global warming.
China’s Central Meteorological Observatory said that heavy rainfall would continue to drench northern China over the next three days. Beijing issued its highest level flood alert on Monday, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The storms are part of the broader pattern of extreme weather across China due to the East Asian monsoon, which has caused disruptions in the world’s second-largest economy.
Xiwanzi Village in Shicheng Town, near Miyun Reservoir, was severely affected, CCTV said on Monday with an additional 100 villagers transferred to a primary school for shelter.
It comes after the maximum flood peak flow into the Miyun reservoir reached a record high of 6550 cubic meters per second, Beijing authorities said on Sunday.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/heavy-rain-northern-china-landslide-beijing-hebei-5262236
