BEIJING: Extreme weather killed at least 30 people in Beijing after a year’s worth of rain fell in less than a week, forcing the relocation of more than 80,000 people, damaging roads and cutting off power and communications in more than 130 villages.
Hundreds of flights and a number of train services were delayed or suspended as the storms peaked on Monday (Jul 28) night, stretching the capital’s disaster management capabilities and prompting some experts to call the city a rain “trap”.
Most of the rain had converged on Beijing’s mountainous north near the Great Wall, with at least 28 deaths reported in the district of Miyun and two in Yanqing, Xinhua reported. The state-run news agency did not say when or how the deaths occurred.
“The flood came in an instant, you just had no buffer,” said Zhai, 33, who runs a grocery shop in Miyun, now a disaster zone amid collapsed bridges, mangled cars and shattered pipelines.
She showed Reuters the marks left behind as the floodwaters receded. They had risen to 1.5 metres (4.92 ft), submerging her shop for hours and ruining her food and beverage stocks.
Liu, who owns a nearby restaurant, was on the verge of tears as she stared at the overturned stools and mud-covered table-tops in her eatery.
Large appliances like fridges had sat submerged for hours and were likely damaged, said her husband Yang, estimating the damage at more than 100,000 yuan (US$14,000).
