North China battles heavy downpours, flooding

Pedestrians walk on a muddy street in flood-hit Mentougou District of Beijing, capital of China, July 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

SHIJIAZHUANG, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nine people have died and six are missing in north China's Hebei Province as of noon on Tuesday as rainstorms continue, local authorities have said.

Statistics show that rainstorms had impacted a total of 540,703 people in 87 counties and districts in Hebei by noon on Tuesday. The economic losses brought by the disaster are still being investigated. So far, the province has evacuated 847,400 people.

Torrential rains have battered north China's Hebei Province since Saturday, with precipitation levels at 164 meteorological observatories in the province exceeding 500 millimeters, according to the main provincial meteorological observatory.

A total of 61 national meteorological observatories in Hebei last month recorded their highest precipitation levels for a single day in July, and 10 of those observatories recorded their highest-ever daily precipitation levels, according to the provincial climate center.

Zhuozhou City is an area in Hebei that has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, a total of 133,913 people from 146 villages in Zhuozhou have been impacted by rainstorms, across an affected area of 225.38 square kilometers. By 5 p.m. Monday, 9,726 mu (about 648.4 hectares) of agricultural land had been affected, according to the city's flood control and drought relief headquarters.

So far, 125,100 people from 124 villages in Zhuozhou have been evacuated to safety.

Zhuozhou has organized 28 emergency rescue teams with a total of 8,755 members to cooperate with professional rescue teams, including the Blue Sky Rescue Team, a Chinese civil relief squad.

Heavy downpours have drenched parts of north China since Saturday, with some regions seeing maximum hourly precipitation reaching 40 to 90 millimeters.

Hebei has started using seven areas for flood storage and detention, said the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

It is necessary to relocate residents in the areas in advance due to safety concerns, said sources with the headquarters.

In Ningjin, a county in one of the areas, a professional rescue team of 160 people has been set up, and over 10,000 residents were relocated to resettlement sites with daily necessities.

Amid the impact of Typhoon Doksuri, continuous heavy rainfall has lashed the Chinese capital Beijing, with particularly severe rainstorms in the western, southwestern, and southern parts.

Eleven people have died, and 27 others remain missing during rainstorms in Beijing, said local authorities Tuesday.

In Tianjin Municipality, which neighbors Beijing, more than 35,000 people have been relocated from areas prone to flooding by the Yongding River, which has swollen amid intense rainfall.

The city on Tuesday also upgraded its emergency response for floods from Level III to Level I, the highest level, said Tianjin's flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Hebei's neighboring Shanxi Province has also been hit by the heavy rain. As of 7 p.m. Monday, a total of 42,211 people in Shanxi have been evacuated, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.