China’s Floods: More than 30 Dead, 18 Missing

By Staff, Agencies

The death toll from recent flooding in and around China’s capital Beijing has risen to 33, including five rescuers, while 18 other people remain missing, as much of the country’s north remains threatened by ongoing heavy rainfall.

Record downpours have hit China’s capital in recent weeks, damaging infrastructure and deluging swaths of the city’s suburbs and surrounding areas.

Days of heavy rain hit areas in Beijing’s mountainous western outskirts especially hard, causing the collapse of 59,000 homes, damage to almost 150,000 others and flooding of more than 15,000 hectares [37,000 acres] of cropland, the city’s government said on Wednesday.

Many roads were also damaged, along with more than 100 bridges, Xia Linmao, a Beijing vice mayor, said at a news conference.

“I would like to express my deep condolences to those who died in the line of duty and the unfortunate victims,” Linmao told reporters, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Other parts of China have also seen heavy flooding, with many reported killed by flood waters across northern China, which has been battered by heavy rain since late July, disrupting the lives of millions.

Officials in Beijing said last week that 147 deaths or disappearances last month were caused by natural disasters. Of those, 142 were caused by flooding or other geological calamities, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management said.