Heavy rains battered northern China yesterday, killing at least two people in Beijing while washing away vehicles and forcing the capital to issue its highest alerts for flooding and landslides.
Doksuri, a former super typhoon, has swept northward over China since Friday last week, when it hit southern Fujian Province.
Emergency personnel recovered two bodies from waterways in Beijing’s Mentougou District, the People’s Daily reported.
Photo: video obtined by Reuters
Reporters saw tree branches and dented vehicles left by receding floodwater strewn on riverbanks in Mentougou yesterday afternoon.
“This morning it was crazy, the water overflowed the Mentougou River and the whole avenue was flooded,” said Guo Zhenyu, a 49-year-old resident.
Yellow bulldozers, workers in orange raincoats and residents cleared away the mud and debris during a period of lighter rain in the afternoon.
“I’m old, but I’ve never seen flooding like this before in my life,” Mentougou resident Qin Quan said.
She showed a video on her smartphone, shared among residents of the area, of workers attempting to resuscitate an unconscious man, as well as footage of a man desperately clinging to a pole with one hand as water washed over him.
The much larger and still swollen Yongding River in the same district churned up debris in brown torrents as residents looked on in shock from a bridge.
Other footage shared by a Mentougou resident showed a traffic barrier dozens of meters long snaking down a road as the water carried it away.
Chen Hong, a resident of the southern Fengtai District, shared footage that showed a parked van half-submerged in fast-flowing brown water on Monday morning as the rain continued to fall.
Residents in Chen’s neighborhood cleared mud outside their homes with shovels during a brief respite from the downpour.
“Once it starts raining the road turns into a drain, and there’s water on the first floor inside houses,” Chen, 52, said.
“The houses here are all old houses, so there are definitely concerns about safety,” she said.
A section of road surface in outer Fangshan District caved in under rising water, local media reported.
Hundreds of bus services in the capital were suspended, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Beijing government issued the highest flood warning for the suburban Dashihe River, while nearby city Tianjin also issued a flood alert.
Social media users uploaded footage of vehicles swept away by muddy torrents and thoroughfares turned into rapids on the outskirts of the city.
The streets of central Beijing were quieter than usual yesterday morning as residents heeded official recommendations to work from home, with only a handful of delivery drivers braving pools of water seen in usually packed bike lanes.
China has been experiencing extreme weather and posting record temperatures this summer, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.
Experts have warned that the ongoing downpour could prompt even worse flooding than in July 2012, when 79 people were killed and tens of thousands evacuated, local media reported.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
HOTEL HIRING: An official said that hoteliers could begin hiring migrant workers next year, but must adhere to a rule requiring a NT$2,000 salary hike for Taiwanese The government is to allow the hospitality industry to recruit mid-level migrant workers for housekeeping and three other lines of work after the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal by the Ministry of Labor. A shortage of workers at hotels and accommodation facilities was discussed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. A 2023 survey conducted by the Tourism Administration found that Taiwan’s lodging industry was short of about 6,600 housekeeping and cleaning workers, the agency said in a report to the committee. The shortage of workers in the industry is being studied, the report said. Hotel and Lodging Division Deputy Director Cheng
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS