What’s new: The official death toll from recent heavy rains and flooding in Beijing has risen to 33, as of Tuesday, with 18 still missing, the city government said Wednesday.
Five rescuers were among the dead while another was among the missing, Xia Linmao, a vice mayor of Beijing, said at a press conference.
Floodwaters swept through several of the capital’s districts after the city was hit from July 29 to Aug. 2 by the heaviest rainfall it has seen in 140 years.
Nearly 1.3 million people were affected, and 59,000 homes destroyed by the downpours, Xia said, according to the official newspaper Beijing Daily. Another 147,000 houses were “seriously” damaged and 225,000 mu (roughly 37,100 acres) of crops were swamped, Xia added.
The background: In the wake of Typhoon Doksuri, record-breaking rainstorms have battered northern China since late July, first hitting Beijing and its surrounding regions and then moving northeastward.
The storms also caused flooding that killed at least 15 people in Hebei province and 14 people in Jilin province by the end of last week, according to CCTV and local government reports.
Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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