Heavy rains and flooding kill at least 34 people in and near Beijing

TAISHITUN, China — Heavy rains and flooding killed 30 people in Beijing, authorities in the Chinese capital reported on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from the storms in the region to at least 34.

A city government statement said that 28 people had died in its hard-hit Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district as of midnight. Both are outlying parts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown.

More heavy rain fell overnight in the area. More than 80,000 people have been relocated in Beijing, including about 17,000 in Miyun, the statement said.

Reports on Monday said a landslide had killed four people in a rural part of Luanping county in neighboring Hebei province. Eight others were missing. A resident told the state-backed Beijing News that communications were down and he couldn’t reach his relatives.

The storms had dropped more than 16 centimeters (6 inches) of rain on average in Beijing by midnight Tuesday, with two towns in Miyun recording 54 centimeters (21 inches) of precipitation, the city said.

Authorities in Miyun released water from a reservoir that was at its highest level since it was built in 1959. Authorities warned people to stay away from rivers downstream as their levels rose and as more heavy rain was forecast.

China’s Premier Li Qiang said Monday that the heavy rain and flooding in Miyun caused “serious casualties,” and called for rescue efforts, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.

The storm knocked out power in more than 130 villages in Beijing, destroyed communication lines and damaged more than 30 sections of road.

Heavy flooding washed away cars and downed power poles in Miyun, which borders Hebei’s Luanping county.

Uprooted trees lay in piles with their bare roots exposed in the town of Taishitun, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of central Beijing. Streets were covered with water, with mud left higher up on the walls of buildings.

“The flood came rushing in, just like that, so fast and suddenly. In no time at all, the place was filling up,” said Zhuang Zhelin, who was clearing mud with his family from their building materials shop.

Next door, Zhuang’s neighbor Wei Zhengming, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, was shoveling mud in his clinic; his feet in slippers were covered in mud.

“It was all water, front and back. I didn’t want to do anything. I just ran upstairs and waited for rescue. I remember thinking, if no one came to get us, we’d be in real trouble,” said Wei.

Beijing authorities launched a top-level emergency response at 8 p.m. Monday, ordering people to stay inside, closing schools, suspending construction work and stopping outdoor tourism and other activities until the response is lifted.

The heaviest rain in Beijing was expected early Tuesday, with rainfall of up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) forecast for some areas.

Another 10,000 people were evacuated from the nearby Jizhou district under the city of Tianjin, Xinhua reported.

The central government said in a statement it had sent 50 million yuan (about $7 million) to Hebei and dispatched a high-level team of emergency responders to help the affected cities, which include Chengde, Baoding and Zhangjiakou.

Beijing and Hebei suffered severe flooding in 2023.