ZHUOZHOU: The past few days have seen the heaviest downpour in at least 140 years in China's capital as Typhoon Doksuri's remnants inundated the area, turning streets into canals and forcing rescue teams to use rubber boats to rescue stranded citizens.
According to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, the city received 744.8 millimetres (29.3 inches) of rain between Saturday and Wednesday morning. Due to the record rainfall, Beijing and the neighbouring province of Hebei were severely flooded, with waters rising to dangerous heights.
Roads were destroyed, power lines were down, and even water pipes were damaged by the rain. It flooded the rivers that surround the capital, submerging some cars while hoisting others onto pedestrian-only bridges.
The body of a rescuer's body was found on Wednesday, bringing the total of confirmed deaths from the heavy rains in the Beijing area to 21. A rubber boat carrying Wang Hong-chun, 41, and other rescuers capsized in a swiftly moving river. Four of her teammates made it through.
At least 26 people have not been found since the rains.
Zhuozhou, a small city in Hebei province that borders Beijing's southwest, is one of the hardest hit areas. Police there asked for lights on social media on Tuesday night to help with rescue efforts.
Residents who had been trapped in their homes without running water, gas or electricity since Tuesday afternoon were being evacuated by rescue teams who were travelling through the inundated city in rubber boats.
"I didn't think it would be that severe, I thought it was just a little bit of water and that it would recede," remarked Wang Huiying, 54. As the water seeped into the first floor, where her steamed bread shop is located, she ended up spending the night there. The equipment is now completely submerged.
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The number of people trapped in the city and the nearby villages' flood-affected areas is unknown. To help with evacuations, rescue teams from other provinces travelled to Zhuozhou.
The leader of a rescue team from Jiangsu province's coast, Zhong Hongjun, declared, "We have to seize every second, every minute to save people. When they arrived on Wednesday at 2 a.m., Zhong said he had been working since then and planned to stay up late. So far, they have saved about 200 people. Many of the people we saved were children and the elderly, he noted.
On Wednesday, waters in Hebei's Gu'an county, which borders Zhuozhou, rose as high as halfway up a pole that held a security camera.
Liu Jiwen, a 58-year-old resident of Gu'an County, was removed from his village on Tuesday night. Nothing that we can do. Natural disaster, he declared.
To reach a relative trapped in a nearby village, two additional people were attempting to cross through the flooded areas.
According to Hebei Province's local authorities, nearly 850,000 people have relocated.
According to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, the previous record for rainfall was set in 1891 when the city received 609 millimetres (24 inches) of rain. The first accurate measurements taken by machines date back to 1883.
The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs' director, Ma Jun, described the most recent downpour as "extreme." Beijing did not even reach 500 millimetres (19.6 inches) of total rainfall last year.
Ma suggested that a review of city planning be done because some areas are prone to repeated flooding. Ma advised against undertaking significant construction in low-lying areas.
Doksuri, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm, may not have produced the record rainfall on its own. After hitting Japan on Wednesday, typhoon Khanun is predicted to move towards China later this week. Before it reaches China, the strong storm, which has surface winds of up to 180 kph (111 mph), could also hit Taiwan.
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Numerous thousands of people were relocated to shelters in public buildings like schools and stadiums in Beijing's suburbs and other nearby cities. 44 million yuan ($6.1 million) has been allocated by the central government for disaster relief in the affected provinces.
The Chinese capital was shocked by the extent of the flooding. Beijing typically experiences dry summers, but this year there was a period of extreme heat.
