Days of relentless rainfall have unleashed catastrophic flooding in northern Beijing and neighboring provinces, killing at least 30 people and forcing over 80,000 residents to evacuate, according to Chinese state media.
The worst-hit area is Miyun District, a mountainous suburb in northeast Beijing, where 28 people were confirmed dead. Another two fatalities were reported in Yanqing, also in the capital's northern outskirts. Floodwaters surged through towns, turning streets into rivers, sweeping away cars, toppling power lines, and isolating hundreds of rural villages.
The flooding was triggered by a series of intense downpours that inundated northern China, already grappling with increasingly severe weather linked to climate change. Miyun recorded 543 millimeters of rainfall, nearly matching Beijing’s annual average, while the city overall received an average of 166 millimeters—more than its typical July rainfall.
Authorities discharged floodwater from a Miyun reservoir on Monday after the maximum flood peak flow reached a historic 6,550 cubic meters per second.
Emergency crews rushed to affected areas as floodwaters began to subside on Tuesday afternoon. Firefighters and rescue teams used boats and heavy equipment to evacuate stranded residents. In some cases, local civilians stepped in: one man used his boat to rescue 17 people, while another transported over 80 using an excavator.
Power outages and damaged roads have complicated rescue efforts. In more than 100 remote villages, electricity and communication lines were cut off.
“I never imagined that such devastation could happen in the capital,” one woman from Miyun wrote on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform. “The place where I grew up was destroyed overnight.”
On Monday, Beijing issued its highest-level flood alert, and the meteorological observatory declared a red alert for rainstorms—warning of life-threatening flash floods and landslides in the region’s mountains. Schools, construction sites, tourist areas, and rural homestays were closed citywide.
President Xi Jinping acknowledged the “significant casualties and property losses” across Beijing and the northern provinces of Hebei, Jilin, and Shandong, urging an “all-out effort” to rescue those missing, evacuate at-risk communities, and minimize casualties.
In neighboring Hebei province, a landslide claimed four lives and left eight missing. In Shanxi, a bus carrying 14 people went missing after being swept away; one body has been recovered. Shandong province reported two deaths and 10 missing after flash floods destroyed 19 homes following an overnight deluge that dropped half a year’s worth of rain in five hours.
In Chengde, Hebei, a woman from Yangjiatai village reported flooding and landslides that cut off roads, collapsed homes, and knocked out communications. “Most people haven’t been evacuated. “Only a few individuals can come out to get supplies.”
Newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue expressed condolences to the victims on social media. “We offer our sincere condolences to those who have lost family members and loved ones,” he wrote.
The crisis comes just two years after record rainfall killed 33 in Beijing in 2023—then the city’s heaviest rain in 140 years. The mounting frequency and intensity of such disasters continue to challenge China’s disaster preparedness in the era of global climate change.
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