According to AP, heavy rains from super typhoon Doksuri caused landslides, floods that swept away cars and destroyed roads in Beijing and neighboring provinces.
Typhoon Doksuri swept across northern China after making landfall in the southern province of Fujian. Heavy rains began to fall on Beijing and surrounding areas on July 29, with 40 hours of rainfall nearly equal to the average for the entire month of July.
The Beijing Meteorological Bureau announced that the city recorded 744.8 mm of rainfall from July 30 to August 1, the heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years. This is considered an extreme and rare event for Beijing.
Floods sweep away cars in China. Photo: SMH
A video broadcast by CCTV showed a road bridge in Beijing broken in half with a long line of cars on top while many vehicles were swept away by the river below.
Other videos also show a sinkhole appearing outside a shopping mall in western Beijing and water pouring down at Daxing Airport.
Many images posted also showed rescue workers and residents wading through waist-deep water as they tried to escape rising water levels.
The severity of the flooding has taken many Chinese by surprise, as Beijing typically has dry summers. Before the storm, Beijing had just endured five record-breaking heat waves.
On August 1, CCTV reported that the storms last weekend killed at least 11 people in Beijing and left 13 missing.
In neighboring Hebei province, more than 800,000 people have been evacuated, nine people have died and six are missing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all-out efforts to provide relief to people in affected areas.
Climate change is making China and many other parts of the world face extreme weather events. After Doksuri, China continues to be on guard against Khanun, the sixth storm since the beginning of the year.
Minh Hoa (reported by Dan Tri, Giao Thong)
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