The heaviest rain to hit Beijing in more than 60 years left at least 10 people dead and forced more than 50,000 to evacuate, state media said yesterday.
Torrential rain pounded Beijing throughout Saturday before easing, but more downpours were forecast yesterday for northeast and southwest China, where at least 10 others were reported dead over the weekend, Xinhua news agency said.
The rainstorms led to the evacuation of more than 50,000 people in the capital, mostly from Beijing’s outlying mountainous districts, as up to 46cm of rain lashed some areas, the agency said.
Photo: REUTERS
A policeman who was electrocuted by a fallen power line during a rescue operation was among the fatalities in Beijing, while others were killed in traffic accidents and roof collapses, Xinhua said.
One woman died after her car was engulfed with water in an underpass on the capital’s central second ring road that was flooded with up to 3m of water.
Three bodies were recovered yesterday in Beijing’s mountainous Fangshan region, where several landslides were reported, China National Radio reported, but it was not clear if they were included in the death toll of 10.
Up to 46cm of rain fell in Fangshan District, the most rain to hit the city in a 14-hour period since records began in 1951, Xinhua said.
The death toll was expected to rise, with media reports yesterday saying numerous people, including rescue workers, were missing. The government flood control headquarters said that damage assessments were ongoing.
Photographs showed entire parking lots flooded by the rain, while rescue and traffic workers were seen diving underwater to unclog roadside drains as helpless drivers looked on from partially submerged cars.
Numerous roads in the capital were submerged under up to 1m of water, while 500 outbound flights were canceled and at least 80,000 passengers stranded.
Yesterday, clean-up crews were out repairing damage under largely sunny skies, while workers scrambled to drain up to 1 million cubic meters of water from the sewer system.
Despite the damage, the rain was largely welcomed in drought-prone northern China, which has suffered from a lack of rain over the past decade.
More torrential rain was forecast in China’s northeast and southwest, after at least 10 other people were killed since Friday.
In Shanxi Province, four people died and one remained missing after their pick-up truck was swept into a river as they attempted to cross a bridge, Xinhua said.
Landslides in Sichuan Province resulted in six deaths, provincial flood control and drought relief officials told the agency.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique