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Ten dead as record rain pounds BeijinG
Updated
The heaviest rain to hit Beijing in 61 years left at least 10 people dead over the weekend.
Torrential rain pounded the capital all day on Saturday, flooding roads and forcing the cancellation of more than 200 flights.
More than 30,000 people were forced to evacuate amid the heavy rain, mostly from Beijing’s outlying mountainous districts..
State media reports said a policeman who was electrocuted by a fallen power line during a rescue operation was among the fatalities.
Others were killed in traffic accidents and roof collapses, the Xinhua news agency said.
One woman died after her car was engulfed with water in an underpass on Beijing’s central second ring road that was flooded with up to three metres of water.
The death toll could rise with media reports on Sunday saying numerous people, including rescue workers, are missing.
Meanwhile three bodies were recovered in Beijing’s mountainous Fangshan region where several landslides were reported, China National Radio reported.
It is not immediately clear if the three are already counted in the death toll.
Up to 46 centimetres of rain fell in Fangshan district, the most rain to hit the city in a 14-hour period since records began in 1951, Xinhua said.
The average rainfall throughout the capital during the period amounted to 16.4 centimetres, the report said, citing the Beijing meteorological bureau.
Numerous roads in the city were submerged under up to a metre of water, while 475 flights were cancelled.
On Sunday, clean-up crews were out repairing damage from the downpour under largely sunny skies, while workers scrambled to drain up to one million cubic metres of water from the sewer system.
Despite the damage, the rain was largely welcomed in drought-prone northern China which has suffered from a lack of rain over the last decade.
More torrential rain was forecast in China’s north-east and south-west.
AFP
Topics:weather, storm-event, storm-disaster, china
First posted
Updated
The heaviest rain to hit Beijing in 61 years left at least 10 people dead over the weekend.
Torrential rain pounded the capital all day on Saturday, flooding roads and forcing the cancellation of more than 200 flights.
More than 30,000 people were forced to evacuate amid the heavy rain, mostly from Beijing’s outlying mountainous districts..
State media reports said a policeman who was electrocuted by a fallen power line during a rescue operation was among the fatalities.
Others were killed in traffic accidents and roof collapses, the Xinhua news agency said.
One woman died after her car was engulfed with water in an underpass on Beijing’s central second ring road that was flooded with up to three metres of water.
The death toll could rise with media reports on Sunday saying numerous people, including rescue workers, are missing.
Meanwhile three bodies were recovered in Beijing’s mountainous Fangshan region where several landslides were reported, China National Radio reported.
It is not immediately clear if the three are already counted in the death toll.
Up to 46 centimetres of rain fell in Fangshan district, the most rain to hit the city in a 14-hour period since records began in 1951, Xinhua said.
The average rainfall throughout the capital during the period amounted to 16.4 centimetres, the report said, citing the Beijing meteorological bureau.
Numerous roads in the city were submerged under up to a metre of water, while 475 flights were cancelled.
On Sunday, clean-up crews were out repairing damage from the downpour under largely sunny skies, while workers scrambled to drain up to one million cubic metres of water from the sewer system.
Despite the damage, the rain was largely welcomed in drought-prone northern China which has suffered from a lack of rain over the last decade.
More torrential rain was forecast in China’s north-east and south-west.
AFP
Topics:weather, storm-event, storm-disaster, china
First posted