Readying Beijing for more rain

The Star

05-08-2025

Beijing warned residents in all city districts to brace for a new round of heavy rainfall, telling them to avoid going out, a week after catastrophic floods killed dozens in the deadliest deluge to hit the Chinese capital since 2012.
Up to 200mm of rain could hit parts of Beijing over a six-hour period from midday, weather forecasters warned yesterday.
The warning comes as authorities rush to reinforce ageing flood defences, fine-tune weather forecasts and update evacuation plans amid reports of bodies being pulled from raging flood waters across the country, including at least three at a flooded wellness camp in Hebei province.
At least 44 people died in Beijing after heavy rains from July 23 to 29.
Most of the dead were people unexpectedly trapped by rapidly rising waters at a nursing home in Miyun district on the city's northeastern outskirts.
The fatalities led authorities to admit to shortcomings in their contingency plans for extreme weather.
By noon yesterday, Beijing had placed all of its 16 districts on the highest level of preparedness, in the first citywide state of readiness since July 28, shutting parts of the Great Wall and other outdoor leisure venues and halting operations of below-ground businesses.
The risk of flash floods and landslides is 'extremely high', authorities said.
In the summer of 2012, 79 people died in Beijing in the city's deadliest flooding in living memory.
Fangshan district was the worst-hit, with one resident reporting a rise in floodwaters of 1.3m in just 10 minutes.
As of Saturday, torrential rains that swept through 'Beijing Valley', a riverside wellness retreat in the Hebei city of Chengde adjacent to Beijing, had claimed three lives, with four still missing, China's state news agency Xinhua reported.
Around 40 people had gathered on July 27 for an event at the site, where organisers directed them into tents pitched on low-lying land next to a river bend, Caixin Media reported.
By 2am the next morning, floodwaters had risen to knee height, forcing attendees to scramble towards the camp's only exit.
In China's southern Guangdong province over the weekend, the bodies of five people were recovered after a large-scale search operation involving more than 1,300 rescuers.
The five people, who went missing on Friday night, were 'swept away by water' following heavy rainfall in recent days, Xinhua reported on Sunday. — Reuters