‘It came like a wall': Ghosts of past floods made a Beijing town evacuate for a storm

CNA

3 days ago

Mentougou, BEIJING: In Wang Ping, a quiet town nestled in the mountains of Beijing's western Mentougou district, Hu Shumin stands at the threshold of his hillside home, watching as scattered clouds drift over the valley.
Barely 24 hours earlier, authorities had warned of torrential rain - relentless, potentially deadly, the kind that once turned these slopes into rivers, and had just killed over 40 people in the Chinese capital.
Families, including his, had evacuated. Streets fell silent. Shelters were readied.
But the storm never came.
By Tuesday (Aug 5) morning, the threat had passed. The skies held back. Residents trickled back, wheeling bags along streets left damp by drizzle but otherwise undisturbed.
For Hu, a 74-year-old local community leader, the relief is palpable - but so is the lingering unease.
'We didn't take any chances. Even if the rain didn't come, the risk was still there,' he told CNA. 'The weather now - it's never quite what you expect.'
But not all heeded the evacuation order, taking their chances by staying put at home.
With weather conditions set to become more unpredictable, experts say local authorities must balance caution with credibility, lest too many perceived false alarms desensitise the public to real danger.
PRE-EMPTIVE EVACUATIONS
On Monday, Beijing placed all 16 of its districts on high alert, anticipating another round of intense downpours after an earlier episode late last month triggered floods that claimed 44 lives and left a trail of destruction across the capital region.
More than 80,000 people were evacuated citywide. In Mentougou, the number reached around 14,000, including many from Wang Ping, a town of roughly 9,000 residents situated along the Yongding River.
Once crucial to the capital's reservoir system, the waterway is now known for swelling rapidly during storms, fed by rain rushing down steep hillsides.
It was along these riverbanks that Hu moved through the narrow lanes of his neighbourhood on Monday, knocking on doors and urging residents to evacuate.
The head of the local emergency response group had contacted Hu directly. With a precautionary flood alert issued, his role was to inform every household to evacuate to the nearby shelter, a kindergarten-turned-safehouse atop the hill, less than a 10-minute walk away.
Most families left without hesitation, Hu said. 'Everyone cooperated. We told each other: 'We'll meet at the shelter,'' he added with a soft chuckle.
'It almost felt routine by now.'
According to Hu, the shelter was already stocked when residents arrived. Bedding had been laid out, bottled water stacked against the wall and packets of bread and dried snacks arranged in plastic bins.
'The local government takes care of everything … they don't just shelter us from the danger, they make sure we're comfortable too,' He said.
'That's why (most) don't hesitate when it's time to leave. There's nothing to worry about.'
Residents spent the night in the shelter, waiting for a storm that never came. By Tuesday, with no sign of worsening weather, authorities lifted the alert and families began returning home.
AS WARNINGS RETURN, SO DO OLD WOUNDS
Beijing had good reason to err on the side of caution.
Late last month, deadly floods swept through districts across the capital and beyond, claiming 44 lives. Many of the victims were in a nursing home in northeastern Miyun district, where rising waters reportedly overwhelmed rescue efforts.
The storms triggered Beijing's most severe flooding in over a decade, drawing public scrutiny to the challenges of responding to increasingly extreme weather.
Further south in Guangdong province, at least five more people died in the past week after being swept away by floodwaters. Just days earlier, on Jul 27, three people were killed when surging waters overran a riverside wellness retreat in Chengde city, Hebei province.
In Mentougou's Wang Ping, rain once brought devastation - and the memory lingers.
The town is still haunted by the memory of the 2023 disaster, when record-breaking downpours driven by Typhoon Doksuri turned roads into rivers and swept away homes, vehicles and lives.
Bridges collapsed, power was knocked out and entire neighbourhoods were submerged in thigh-deep water. According to media reports, at least 20 people died in Beijing's hardest-hit suburban districts.
Among them was Mentougou, the epicentre of the storm. The district recorded up to 580mm of rainfall over just a few days - nearly its average annual rainfall compressed into less than a week.
It wasn't the first time a disaster had struck. In 2012, Beijing was hit by what was then the heaviest rainfall in six decades. The deluge killed at least 79 people across the city and overwhelmed many of the same flood-prone areas in Mentougou.
The trauma of past floods has taught Wang Ping's residents that when the rain comes, it can arrive swiftly and with little mercy.
Zhao, a soft-spoken woman in her seventies who declined to give her full name, lived through the 2023 disaster.
When the latest warning came on Monday, she moved to a relative's apartment on higher ground. A member of the estate committee had gone door to door, alerting residents that the city had entered its highest level of flood preparedness.
'People listened and left the estate … after a day, we were told it was safe to go home,' she told CNA.
Asked whether she was worried about leaving behind her home and valuables, she replied simply: 'Safety is more important. As for the rest, we just hope for the best.'
SOME STAYED, OTHERS REMEMBERED
Not everyone needed to leave their homes.
Liu Haijie, who operates a small provision store along the town's main road, chose to stay. Her apartment is located in a high-rise building on elevated ground, safely away from the flood-prone areas.
While she didn't evacuate, Liu felt the disruption immediately: streets emptied, public transportation halted, and customers vanished.
'The town went quiet. No buses, no one coming in, no one going out,' she said.
'Business was gone for the day. But what can we do? These days, we follow nature's lead.'
At a nearby hair salon, the owner, who has lived in Wang Ping for about a year, said she stayed through the storm warning as well. Unlike Liu and Zhao, she didn't experience the devastating floods of 2023 firsthand.
'I heard the stories - how the water came so fast, how people lost their (belongings),' she told CNA.
'This time, I didn't think it would get that bad again. And in the end, it didn't.'
She admitted she wasn't sure what the conditions at the temporary shelter were like, or whether going there was truly necessary.
'I suppose I'd rather just wait and see.'
But for those who lived through the 2023 floods, waiting was never an option.
When asked about that episode, Liu, the provision store operator, paused before responding.
'It felt like yesterday,' she said. 'The water reached up to my thighs. The whole street was underwater in just a few hours. We didn't evacuate in time.'
With electricity cut and goods in her shop ruined, she recalled neighbours hauling furniture up stairwells and using torches to navigate darkened corridors.
Aid teams eventually arrived with bottled water and basic supplies, but the memory of those first few hours has stayed with her.
Hu, the local community leader, remembers it too - the moment floodwaters broke past the riverbank and swept through the main road. He pointed out where the debris had piled up and where vehicles had been swept away.
'It came like a wall … we didn't have time to react,' he said.
TURNING LESSONS INTO ACTION
Since the devastating floods of 2023, local authorities in Mentougou have rolled out a series of upgrades aimed at better preparing Wang Ping and other villages along the Yongding River for future storms.
Many of these new protective measures were already in place by the time the latest warnings were issued. Walking slowly through his neighbourhood, Hu pointed them out - visible signs of a community better equipped to face what nature might bring.
Along the riverside stood a series of sleek, solar-powered flood detection sensors, each mounted high above the waterline.
Hu explained that the sensors monitor water levels in real time and relay the data instantly to the local government, providing an early warning even before any visible threat emerges.
The riverbank itself has been reinforced and carefully reshaped. Sturdy concrete barriers have been extended deeper and higher, their slopes fortified with stone.
Nearby, freshly widened drainage channels lined the roadside, their smooth, clean concrete designed to carry stormwater away swiftly rather than allowing it to pool dangerously in the street.
'Before this was done, the water had nowhere to go,' Hu remarked quietly. 'Now, it drains out quickly, and the roads stay clear.'
Every few meters along the main street, poles fitted with sirens stood ready. 'Once these sirens sound, everyone knows to move immediately,' he said.
Local authorities had personally briefed Hu and other community leaders about how each new system functioned, and what steps to take if warnings sounded.
Hu took out his mobile phone, showing messages from the village committee that clearly outlined evacuation procedures, emergency contacts, and maps to shelters. The level of preparedness was a stark contrast to the confusion and panic two years earlier, he noted.
'Back then, we were caught unprepared, and we paid a price for it,' Hu said, his voice firm but quiet. 'Now, we're not just responding to danger - we're ready for it.'
BALANCING WARNINGS AND PUBLIC TRUST
Climate experts note that the increasingly erratic and intense rainfall patterns experienced in Beijing and elsewhere are closely linked to a combination of climate change and changing meteorological conditions.
Increasingly erratic weather is the new normal, said Yang Jiguo, deputy chief at the China Meteorological Administration's (CMA) Public Meteorological Service Center. He added that the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events are directly linked to rising global temperatures.
'When the atmosphere heats up, it behaves like boiling water - steam rises, convection intensifies, and weather systems become more unstable,' Yang told CNA.
'That's why we're seeing heavier rains in shorter bursts, and in places where we didn't expect them before.'
To cope with these shifts, China has developed an early warning system designed not only to alert, but to trigger action, Yang said, describing it as 'progressively layered'.
This includes real-time satellite monitoring, short-term radar projections, and a comprehensive notification chain that reaches not just officials but also local grid managers, emergency responders and residents.
Once a warning is issued, a chain of pre-assigned actions is activated, from school closures to the deployment of grassroots volunteers, Yang said.
'In some disasters, the response time is just minutes. That's why we say early warnings are not just about notice. They are about action.'
Yang emphasised that these protocols are continuously reviewed and updated to keep pace with changing climate patterns, to ensure 'no one is caught off guard'.
'Pre-warning is about efficiency,' Yang said. 'Sometimes, when a flash flood hits, there are only seconds to act. That's why protocols must already be in place, and everyone must know exactly what to do.'
Dimitri de Boer, director and chief representative in China at environmental consultancy ClientEarth, said that investing in sophisticated forecasting technologies and improved early warning systems is crucial, noting that such advanced systems would not only protect China but also benefit other vulnerable countries in the region.
Beyond advanced forecasting methods, de Boer said communities could also benefit greatly from nature-based solutions, such as widening riverbanks to create more room for rivers to safely absorb floodwaters during heavy rains.
'It's a very effective way to combine ecological benefits with flood prevention,' he told CNA, highlighting similar approaches adopted in his native Netherlands, known globally for its sophisticated flood management systems.
'This isn't just about engineering solutions, but using nature as an ally in adapting to climate risks.'
At the same time, climate experts say a key challenge lies in striking a balance between caution and credibility - issuing alerts early enough to protect lives, without dulling the public response when storms prove milder or never arrive.
CMA's Yang acknowledged that not every warning will lead to severe outcomes, noting that forecasts are 'always evolving', based on radar and observation data that can shift 'by the hour, even by the minute'.
While some residents may feel the impact didn't match the severity of the warning, this doesn't mean the alert was misplaced, he said.
'There's a misconception that if it doesn't rain in your area, the warning was wrong. But often, neighbouring areas are hit hard. Forecasts are issued by district-level stations and aim to protect entire zones, not individual blocks,' he said.
Authorities are aware of the risk of public complacency and are stepping up education alongside improvements in forecasting systems, Yang said.
Yin Yizhou, deputy director of the Meteorological Disaster Risk Management Office at the CMA's National Climate Center, said authorities are stepping up efforts nationwide to embed disaster literacy into schools, neighbourhoods, factories, and rural areas.
'Science communication is not just about explaining forecasts. It's about building a culture where people act early and don't gamble with risk,' he told CNA.
Ultimately, climate experts agree that it's better to err on the side of caution.
'We're moving into a climate where 'false alarms' are a necessary part of keeping people safe. The alternative is waiting too long - and then it's too late,' Yin said.
CMA's Yang echoed these sentiments, stressing that the overriding goal is to keep people safe.
'If the system works, lives will be saved even when the rain never comes.'