China floods: At least 30 killed in Beijing and 80,000 evacuated

At least 30 people have been killed and tens of thousands evacuated due to heavy rain and flooding in and around Beijing.

Heavy rains intensified around the Chinese capital and surrounding areas on Monday, with the city experiencing rainfall of up to 54cm (21 inches) during a period of “continuous extreme rain”, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.

A statement from the Beijing city government said 28 people had died in Miyun district and two had been killed in Yanqing district as of midnight on Monday.

Both areas are mountainous outlying parts of Beijing, far from the city centre.

More than 80,000 people have been relocated in the Chinese capital, including around 17,000 in Miyun, the city government’s statement said.

It comes as reports on Monday said four people had been killed in a landslide in a rural part of Luanping county in Beijing’s neighbouring Hebei province. Eight others were missing.

A resident told the state-backed Beijing News that communications were down and he couldn’t reach his relatives.

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out” search and rescue efforts late on Monday to minimise casualties.

The recent floods have resulted in “significant casualties and property losses” in Beijing and the provinces of Hebei, Jilin and Shandong, he said, according to Xinhua.

Beijing authorities launched a top-level emergency response at 8pm local time (1pm UK time) on Monday, ordering people to stay inside, closing schools, suspending construction work and stopping outdoor tourism and other activities until the response is lifted.

Further heavy rainfall forecast

More heavy rain is expected in Beijing on Tuesday, with rainfall of up to 30cm (12 inches) forecast for some areas.

The storms in the region have already knocked out power in more than 130 villages in the Beijing area, destroyed communication lines and damaged more than 30 sections of road.

More than 16cm (6 inches) of rain had fallen on average by Tuesday, with two towns in Miyun recording 54cm (21 inches) of rainfall, the city’s government said.

Flooding has washed away cars and downed power poles in Miyun – as authorities there released water from a reservoir that was at its highest level since it was built in 1959.

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‘The flood came rushing in’

Uprooted trees lay in piles with their bare roots exposed in the town of Taishitun in Miyun, about 100km (60 miles) northeast of central Beijing.

Streets were covered with water, with mud left higher up on the walls of buildings.

“The flood came rushing in, just like that, so fast and suddenly. In no time at all, the place was filling up,” said Zhuang Zhelin, as he cleared mud with his family from their building materials shop.

Next door, his neighbour Wei Zhengming, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, shovelled mud in his clinic.

“It was all water, front and back. I didn’t want to do anything. I just ran upstairs and waited for rescue. I remember thinking, if no one came to get us, we’d be in real trouble,” he said.

Meanwhile, China’s central government said it had sent 50 million yuan (about £5.2m) to Hebei and has dispatched a high-level team of emergency responders to help affected cities, which include Chengde, Baoding and Zhangjiakou.