At least 11 people have been killed in floods in the Chinese capital, Beijing, following days of relentless rain that left hundreds of people trapped despite an overnight evacuation of tens of thousands from their homes.
Cars were swept away as the rain transformed roads into rivers. Videos posted by state media showed half-submerged vehicles in the Mentougou district pulled along by fast-moving torrents as the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri dumped heavy rainfall on the city of nearly 22 million.
Eleven people were killed in the disaster, including 4 in Mentougou District, 4 in Changping District, 2 in Fangshan District, and 1 in Haidian District. Among them, a firefighter from the Haidian Fire Brigade of the Beijing Fire and Rescue Corps was unfortunately killed during the rescue work, and a township cadre in Mentougou District was unfortunately killed during the inspection process. The identities of the other victims are still being further verified.
Elsewhere heavy rain continued to soak the city of Tianjin and Hebei province in the wake of Doksuri, which was downgraded to a tropical depression over the weekend.
Three of the five rivers that make up the Hai River Basin rose to dangerous levels on Monday. Some houses were washed into the Yongding River, and nearly 55,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Baoding city, state media reported.
The Beijing observatory kept a red alert – the highest warning – for heavy rainfall in place, while the Beijing Hydrology Station upgraded its flood warning with a forecast for more rain and river flooding. Incessant rainfall over the weekend until Monday morning broke daily precipitation records at 14 weather stations in Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces.
