Floods in China: As many as 20 people have died while 27 others are missing amid flooding in the mountains surrounding China’s capital Beijing, according to state media’s reports.
Relentless heavy rains which stretched into the fourth day have compelled the authorities to evacuate people in vulnerable communities to school gyms, and also shut train stations, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday (August 1).
According to the media report, people’s homes have been flooded while the roads have also suffered severe damage and cars piled into stacks.
Beijing, which usually experiences a moderate, dry climate, is unusually getting heavy downpours.
Scores of deaths have been reported due to flooding in other parts of northern China which also witnesses such large amount of rains.
Large parts of China are hit by seasonal flooding every summer, especially in the semitropical south, however, some northern regions have reported the worst floods in 50 years this year.
Floods in July
In early July, the floods in the southwestern region of Chongqing claimed at least 15 lives while over 5,500 people had to be evacuated in the far northwestern province of Liaoning.
The rainstorms have trapped residents in their vehicles and homes in the central province of Hubei.
China had witnessed its deadliest floods which caused massive destruction in recent history in 1998 in which 150 people had lost their lives, most of them along the Yangtze River.
Over 300 people died in the flooding in the central province of Henan in 2021.
Record rainfall inundated the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on July 20 that year, turning streets into rushing rivers and flooding at least part of a subway line.
(With AP inputs)
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