China rains: Beijing on alert, warns residents to avoid going out after dozens die in floods

Mint

a day ago

Beijing has placed most of its hilly districts on top alert for torrential rains on Monday and urged residents against going out needlessly, following the deadliest floods to hit the Chinese capital since 2012.
Weather forecasters have cautioned that parts of Beijing could receive up to 200 mm (7.9 inches) of rain within a six-hour window starting at midday. To put it in perspective, the city, home to 22 million residents, typically records around 600 mm of rainfall annually. Nearly 44 people lost their lives in Beijing late last month following days of heavy downpour. Most of them were trapped by rapidly increasing waters at a nursing home in Miyun district on the city's northeastern outskirts. The fatalities prompted authorities to acknowledge faults in their contingency plans for severe weather. Beijing had six of its 16 districts—Mentougou, Fangshan, Fengtai, Shijingshan, Huairou, and Changping—on the highest alert for heavy rainfall on Monday. All are in mountainous areas to the west and north of the city.
4. According to local authorities, the risk of flash floods and landslides is 'extremely high'.
5. 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 1.3 metres in just 10 minutes.
6. Beijing's topography has been described by some as a rain 'trap", with its mountains to the west and north capturing moist air and amplifying any ensuing rainfall as a result.
7. In 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.