China: 30 Dead, 18 Missing After Beijing Floods
Record-breaking downpours have flooded Beijing and surrounding areas in recent weeks, causing extensive damage to infrastructure and killing at least 33 people, including five rescuers. Officials say 18 others are missing, while much of the country's north remains threatened by heavy rainfall.
Facts
- Record-breaking downpours have flooded Beijing and surrounding areas in recent weeks, causing extensive damage to infrastructure and killing at least 33 people, including five rescuers. Officials say 18 others are missing, while much of the country's north remains threatened by heavy rainfall.1
- As many as 59K homes collapsed in the mountainous western outskirts of Beijing as a result of heavy rainfall. Almost 150K others were damaged and more than 15K hectares (37K acres) of cropland were flooded.2
- At a news conference on Wednesday, Beijing Vice Mayor Xia Linmao said that scores of roads were damaged, along with more than 100 bridges. Rescue efforts remain underway, as Xia has said it could take up to three years to fully address the damage.3
- Heavy flooding has also been reported in other parts of China, partly due to the impact of Typhoon Doksuri over the weekend. Hebei province outside Beijing has seen some of the region's worst flooding, while receding floodwaters in Zhuozhou, southwest of Beijing, allowed some of the 125K people evacuated to return home.4
- Elsewhere, extreme summer heat and drought are threatening people's health and the autumn harvest in some areas of the country. More than 5K firefighters were battling 15 wildfires in the Inner Mongolia region in China's far north, on the border with Russia and Mongolia.5
- The most deadly and destructive floods in recent Chinese history occurred in 1998, when 4,150 people were killed, mostly along the Yangtze River. However, deadly floods have occurred as recently as 2021, when heavy rainfall caused more than 300 deaths in the Henan province.6
Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2The Canberra Times, 3Le Monde.fr, 4Yahoo News, 5Washington Post, and 6CBC.
Narratives
- Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. Beijing is fully focused on post-disaster recovery following this latest heavy rainfall. Hydraulic facilities and residential housing are being repaired, all while the government continues with the construction of improved infrastructure to future-proof transport, energy, communication, and other facilities against further extreme weather. This situation is being effectively addressed and the residents of affected areas are the government's top priority.
- Anti-China narrative, as provided by The Washington Post. The damage done by flooding in Beijing and Hebei could take years to repair, all while regions elsewhere in China tackle the threat of drought. Dealing with these concurrent disasters could pose a serious challenge to Beijing's one-party, top-down political system, as it may make local authorities unwilling or unable to respond. Pres. Xi Jinping is continuing to lead China into a future dominated by fossil fuel investment and restricted regional or localized power, but the increasing effects of climate change and, therefore, extreme weather, will make these choices environmentally and politically unsustainable.
