Drafting.- The torrential rains that have plagued Beijing since last Thursday have caused at least 11 deaths and 27 disappearances, according to the latest official balance released today by local authorities.
Among the dead are two emergency services workers who lost their lives while carrying out rescue work, local newspaper the Beijing Daily reported.
The rainfall, the most intense recorded in the Chinese capital in recent years, has affected more than 44,000 people and forced the evacuation of some 127,000, according to the newspaper.
Among the 27 missing are four members of a rescue team who fell into the water in a rural area.
The average rainfall accumulated in the city from last Thursday until 06:00 local time on Tuesday (22:00 GMT on Monday) was 257.9 millimeters, although in some western and southern districts it exceeded 400 millimeters.
The Mentougou district of the capital, with average rainfall of 320 millimeters that caused the overflow of the river that crosses the area, had to evacuate 5,000 of its inhabitants and reported two people killed by the floods this Monday afternoon.
The authorities have activated the red alert for floods in most of the municipal territory and have warned of the risk of landslides, mudslides and other geological disasters caused by the rains.
The local government expressed its condolences to the families of the victims and has asked citizens to be attentive to weather information and take preventive measures.
The northern cities of Zhangjiakou, Chengde, Tangshan, Baoding and Xiong’an, close to Beijing, have also been affected by heavy rainfall and forced to evacuate thousands of residents.
The effects of Typhoon Doksuri, which hit southern and central China last week, have caused Beijing and northern China to suffer the heaviest rains in more than a decade these days, the local newspaper Global Times reported.
Doksuri made landfall last Friday morning on the coast of the city of Jinjiang, in the southeastern province of Fujian, with a maximum wind speed of 155 kilometers per hour to gradually weaken over the weekend and as it moved north.
Meanwhile, a new typhoon, Khanun, following a trajectory similar to that followed by Doksuri, is approaching the Philippines, a country where Doksuri left at least 25 victims.
