Heavy rain leaves dozens dead in Beijing, state media reports
Heavy rains and flooding have killed at least 30 people in Beijing, after a year’s worth of rain fell in less than a week, according to state media.
Beijing authorities said they have relocated a further 80,000 residents as rain continues.
Eight people were also killed in the neighboring Hebei Province, after a landslide struck a rural village, with four others still missing, according to state media. Officials said that all residents of the affected village will be relocated as a safety precaution.
The storms dropped more than 6 inches of rain on average across Beijing by midnight Tuesday, with two other towns recording as much as 21 inches of precipitation, according to the Beijing Meteorological Observatory. This has come following a summer of extreme weather across China, with record heat waves in the east and heavy flooding in the southwest.
Districts across China have been evacuated, with state media reporting that in Beijing's Mentougou District about 15,000 people have been evacuated, with all major tourist sites closed. In the Pinggu District, more than 12,800 people have been relocated, with authorities setting up 40 emergency shelters in gyms, schools, hotels and village offices, officials told state media.
State media reported that 34 teams, involving over 1,000 personnel have been deployed for flood response in the Pinggu region, which is about 44 miles northeast of Beijing.
In response to the disaster, President Xi Jinping urged all-out efforts to ensure the safety of residents and property, saying: "Emergency response must be activated and carried out at the earliest possible moment to fully protect people's lives and property."
The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management on Tuesday allocated 350 million yuan, or about $47 million, in central government disaster relief funds to nine provincial-level regions.
The rainstorm alert in the capital was cancelled Tuesday as the rain shifted eastward, although the city remains on its highest level of flood control emergency response, according to state media. Showers were still forecast through the afternoon and into the evening.
