At least ten are killed in floods near Beijing as super typhoon batters China with the worst downpours in history
- Officials announced deaths today in Baoding, one of the worst-hit cities by flood
At least 10 people have been killed in floods in the Hebei province of northern China after torrential rains battered the country.
Storm Doksuri, a former super typhoon that hit mainland China last Friday, has brought the most severe rains since records began 140 years ago.
Hebei province, which neighbours Beijing, has been the one of the most affected by the rains.
Officials announced the deaths today in Baoding, one of the province’s worst-hit cities, around 90 miles from Beijing.
By noon on Saturday, 4am in the UK, more than 600,000 of Baoding’s 1.5 million residents had been evacuated from areas deemed to be at risk and 18 people were missing, officials said.
At least 10 people have been killed in floods in the Hebei province of northern China after torrential rains battered the country
Residents are evacuated by rubber boats through flood waters in Zhuozhou in northern China’s Hebei province
A local resident gestures as he walks in chest deep floodwaters towards a rescue boat to be helped to safety in an area inundated with floodwaters
READ MORE HERE: Terrifying moment car plunges into massive crater as bridge collapses in front of it in China as deadly floods destroy roads and leave entire towns submerged
On Saturday, torrential rain hit northeast China for a second day, battering the provinces bordering Russia and North Korea.
A red alert remains in force in Beijing due to ‘geological risks’ such as landslides, linked to the bad weather.
Clean-up operations are ongoing after the largest rainfall in years, which destroyed infrastructure and flooded entire districts.
China has been hit hard by extreme weather in recent months, from record-breaking heatwaves to deadly rain.
Natural disasters caused 147 deaths or disappearances last month, China said Friday, after the heaviest rains since records began hit the country’s capital.
China’s Ministry of Emergency Management said that 142 of the deaths or disappearances recorded in July were caused by flooding or geological disasters.
Dramatic aerial photographs on Wednesday showed shopping streets turned into rivers of brown water, while others showed farmland in the surrounding areas completely submerged and floodwater stretching for miles.
Parcels at a delivery center float on the surface after floods hit Zhuozhou in northern China’s Hebei province
Rescuers ride a rubber boat and head to a village to carry out evacuation operation
An aerial view shows rescue workers and boats along a flooded road at an industrial development zone
AFP saw rescuers using boats to ferry instant noodles, bread and drinking water to residents who could not or did not want to leave properties engulfed by water.
Millions of people have been hit by extreme weather events and prolonged heatwaves around the globe in recent weeks, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.
Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based NGO the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said that while the typhoon had brought the rain, rising ocean temperatures due to climate change were also causing the extreme weather.
‘China has suffered unprecedented extreme heatwaves since last year… this year, there are record-breaking high temperatures in Northern China,’ Ma told AFP this week.
‘These heatwaves are linked to global warming, and this is what most climate scientists around the world tend to agree,’ he said.
This aerial view shows rescue teams working in a flooded village after heavy rains in Zhuozhou, Baoding city
People stay on a roof at a flooded residential compound after the rains and floods brought by remnants of Typhoon Doksuri, in Zhuozhou
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