At least 20 dead and 27 missing in floods surrounding Beijing, thousands evacuated

Days of unusually heavy rains around China’s capital, Beijing, have flooded houses, torn apart roads and left at least 20 people dead and 27 missing, state media reported Tuesday.

The flooding prompted authorities to close train stations and evacuate people in vulnerable areas to school gyms. Cars were washed away and piled into stacks by the rushing waters.

Indicating the level of urgency, President Xi Jinping issued an order for local governments to go “all out” to rescue those trapped and minimize the loss of life and damage to property.

The level of rainfall is highly unusual for Beijing, which generally enjoys a moderate, dry climate. Flooding in other parts of northern China that rarely see such large amounts of rain have led to scores of deaths.

Seasonal flooding hits large parts of China every summer, particularly in the semitropical south. However, some northern regions this year have reported the worst floods in 50 years.

In early July, at least 15 people were killed by floods in the southwestern region of Chongqing, and some 5,590 people in the far northwestern province of Liaoning had to be evacuated. In the central province of Hubei, rainstorms have trapped residents in their vehicles and homes.

China’s deadliest and most destructive floods in recent history were in 1998, when 4,150 people died, most of them along the Yangtze River.

In 2021, more than 300 people died in flooding in the central province of Henan. 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.

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