Ten dead as record rain pounds Beijing

AFP: The heaviest rain to hit Beijing in 61 years left at least 10 people dead over the weekend, while more downpours were forecast for northeast and southwest China, according to state media. Torrential rain pounded the capital all day Saturday, leading to the evacuation of more than 30,000 people, mostly from Beijing's outlying mountainous districts, the Xinhua news agency said.

A policeman who was electrocuted by a fallen power line during a rescue operation was among the fatalities, while others were killed in traffic accidents and roof collapses, it said. One woman died after her car was engulfed with water in an underpass on Beijing's central second ring road that was flooded with up to three metres (10 feet) of water.

The death toll could rise with media reports Sunday saying numerous people, including rescue workers, were missing. Meanwhile three bodies were recovered Sunday in Beijing's mountainous Fangshan region where several landslides were reported, China National Radio reported.

It was not immediately clear if the three were already counted in the death toll. The government flood control headquarters told AFP that damage assessments were ongoing. Up to 46 centimetres (more than 18 inches) of rain fell in Fangshan district, the most rain to hit the city in a 14-hour period since records began in 1951, Xinhua said.

The average rainfall throughout the capital during the period amounted to 16.4 centimetres, the report said, citing the Beijing meteorological bureau. Numerous roads in the city were submerged under up to a metre of water, while 475 flights were cancelled....

A 2005 rain in Beijing, shot by Shizhao, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license