Heaviest rain in six decades kills 10 in Beijing

At least 10 people have been killed in the heaviest rain in six decades in the Chinese capital over the weekend, officials said today.

More than 30,000 residents in districts of Fangshan, Huairou, Mentougou and Pinggu as well as Miyun and Yanqing counties were relocated, the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted officials at the city’s flood control headquarter as saying.

In Shanxi province, in the north, four people died and one remained missing after their pick-up truck was swept into a river while they attempted to cross a bridge, it said.

Landslides in the south-western Sichuan province resulted in six deaths, provincial flood control and drought relief officials told the agency.

In Fangshan, where the maximum precipitation reached 460 mm in the Hebei Township as of this morning, road traffic in 12 townships was disrupted. Mobile telecommunication services and Internet access were cut off in six townships, it said.

Train services between Beijing and Guangzhou were suspended as the railway line section at Nangangwa, Fengtai District, was soaked in water, the headquarters said.

A flash flood in Fangshan stranded 104 primary school students and nine teachers at a military training site, the Xinhua said. It mentioned that they were in no immediate danger and that rescuers had taken food to them.

More than 12,000 people worked for draining 1 million cubic meters of water from streets. Most puddles in the city were cleared by this morning.

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