Prolonged torrential rains have led to catastrophic flooding and landslides in the mountainous northern outskirts of Beijing, resulting in the deaths of at least 30 people, as reported by Chinese state media on Tuesday. Northern China has faced relentless rainstorms in recent days, causing rivers to overflow and triggering dangerous landslides. In Hebei province, which borders Beijing, a major landslide killed four individuals and left eight others missing.
The situation worsened around Beijing on Monday when heavy downpours claimed 28 lives in Miyun, a remote mountainous district northeast of the capital, and two more in the Yangqing district. The flooding has destroyed dozens of roads and left 136 villages without electricity, forcing emergency authorities to relocate over 80,000 people, including 17,000 residents from Miyun alone.
Dramatic social media videos reveal brown, debris-laden floodwaters surging through neighborhoods, sweeping away vehicles, downing power lines, and transforming streets into turbulent rivers, especially in the Miyun area.
In response to the escalating crisis, Beijing authorities issued the city’s highest-level flood alert on Monday, urging residents to avoid riverbanks and heed evacuation orders. The Beijing Meteorological Observatory raised a red alert for rainstorms—the most severe on its four-level scale—warning of persistent heavy rainfall, flash floods, mudslides, and further landslides in vulnerable mountain zones.
By Monday evening, city officials had closed all schools, suspended operations at scenic spots, and ordered rural homestays and campsites to halt activities as a precaution. Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged the scale of the disaster, citing significant loss of life and widespread property damage in Beijing, Hebei, Jilin, and Shandong provinces. He has directed officials to mount a comprehensive search and rescue effort for the missing, ensure safe evacuations and resettlements, and minimize further casualties.
