At least 30 people were killed as heavy rain in the Chinese capital Beijing prompted authorities to evacuate 80,000, state media said.
Intense rainstorms have pummelled swathes of northern China this week, including the capital and the provinces of Hebei, Jilin and Shandong.
Local state-run outlet Beijing Daily said on social media that “continuous extreme heavy rainfall caused major disasters”.
The death toll was highest in Miyun, a suburban district northeast of the city centre, it said.
Also badly affected were Huairou district in the north of the city and Fangshan in the southwest, state media said.
Dozens of roads have been closed and over 130 villages have lost electricity, Beijing Daily said.
Firefighters transport supplies through a temporary bridge at Liulimiao Town in Huairou District
Power lines were swept away by muddy currents while military vehicles and ambulances ploughed through flooded streets.
Firefighters also rescued 48 people trapped in an elderly care centre, CCTV reported.
‘All-out efforts’
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged authorities late last night to plan for worst-case scenarios and rush the relocation of residents of flood-threatened areas.
In Hebei province, which encircles the capital, a landslide in a village near the city of Chengde killed four people, with eight still missing, CCTV reported.
In 2023, heavy rain killed over 80 people across northern and northeastern China, including at least 29 people in Hebei where severe flooding destroyed homes and crop fields.
Some reports at the time suggested the province shouldered the burden of a government decision to divert the deluge away from the capital.
Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat.
China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive climate change and contribute to making extreme weather more frequent and intense.
But it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.
Flash floods in the eastern Shandong province killed two people and left ten missing this month.
A landslide on a highway in Sichuan province this month also killed five people after it swept several cars down a mountainside.
