Beijing flooding kills 20, worst in 60 years (VIDEO)
A woman walks on a flooded street during heavy rainfall in Beijing on July 21, 2012. Over 60 percent of Beijing’s annual rainfall falls in July and August when as the East Asian monsoon brings relief from the city’s usually dry and arid climate.
Twenty people died and 30,000 were displaced as record rainfall slammed China and its capital, Beijing, on the weekend, state media reported.
The heaviest rainfall in six decades killed 10 people in Beijing and 10 elsewhere in the country, authorities told the Xinhua news agency.
By early this morning, authorities relocated thousands from districts near Beijing – Fangshan, Huairou, Mentougou and Pinggu. Residents in Miyun and Yanqing counties are also affected.
The rainfall – more than 18 inches in the Hebei Township – washed out roads and knocked out cellphone and Internet services.
Fangshan’s rainfall broke a record set in 1951.
It also stopped trains between Beijing and Guangzhou, a city almost directly south of the capital.
News reports said 12,000 workers drained 3 million cubic feet of water from streets.
Across Beijing, almost seven inches of rain fell.
The rain began early Saturday and forecasters say, while Beijing skies have cleared, rain could continue elsewhere today.
Outside the capital, another 10 people died from the flooding, The Associated Press reported.
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Waist-deep water trapped cars and buses and collapsed roofs as lightning, fallen power lines and raging rivers also created casualties.
A landslide killed six people in the western Sichuan province, Xinhua said, according to the AP.
About 100 students and their teachers awaited rescue at a military school after a flash flood, while Beijing airport cancelled dozens of flights.
The weather stranded 80,000 airline passengers by late Saturday, with the delays expected to continue through the weekend.
Ten people in Beijing died from the flooding and rain, The Telegraph said.
A police officer died when he encountered a fallen power line, while a woman drowned in her car that was trapped beneath and underpass.
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