Beijing has placed most of its hilly districts on top alert for torrential rains on Monday and urged residents against going out needlessly, following the deadliest floods to hit the Chinese capital since 2012.
4. According to local authorities, the risk of flash floods and landslides is “extremely high”.
5. In the summer of 2012, 79 people died in Beijing in the city’s deadliest flooding in living memory. Fangshan district was the worst-hit, with one resident reporting a rise in floodwaters of 1.3 metres in just 10 minutes.
6. Beijing’s topography has been described by some as a rain “trap”, with its mountains to the west and north capturing moist air and amplifying any ensuing rainfall as a result.
7. In southern Guangdong province over the weekend, the bodies of five people were recovered after a large-scale search operation involving more than 1,300 rescuers.
8. The five people who went unaccounted for on Friday night were “swept away by water” after heavy downpour in recent days, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
