China’s capital has recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years over the past few days.
The city recorded 744.8mm of rain between Saturday and Wednesday morning, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said on Wednesday.
The record rainfall comes as northern China has been deluged with heavy rains as the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri moved north after earlier hitting southern Chinese provinces.
Beijing and the surrounding province of Hebei have been hit by severe flooding, with waters rising to dangerous levels.
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The rains destroyed roads and knocked out power and even pipes carrying drinking water.
Among the hardest hit areas is Zhuozhou, a small city in Hebei province that borders Beijing’s southwest.
Rescue teams traversed the flooded city in rubber boats as they evacuated residents who were stuck in their homes without running water, gas or electricity.
Wang Huiying, a 54-year-old resident, said: “I didn’t think it would be that severe, I thought it was just a little bit of water and that it would recede.”
She ended up spending the night on the third floor of her building as the water seeped into the first floor, which holds her steamed bread shop. All of the machinery is now underwater.
It is unknown how many people are trapped in flood-stricken areas in the city and surrounding villages.
Rescue teams from different provinces in China were on the scene in Zhuozhou to assist with evacuations.
Zhong Hongjun (48) who was the head of a rescue team from coastal Jiangsu province said: “We have to grasp every second, every minute to save people.
Mr Zhong said he had been working since 2am on Wednesday, and expects to work into the night. They have rescued about 200 people so far.
He added: “A lot of the people we saved are elderly and children.”
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On Wednesday, waters in Gu’an county in Hebei, which borders Zhuozhou, were high, covering half up a pole where a surveillance camera was installed.
Associated Press journalists encountered a couple who were trying to pass through the flooded areas to rescue a relative trapped in a nearby village. They declined to be interviewed.
The number of confirmed deaths from the torrential rains around Beijing rose to 21 on Wednesday after the body of a rescuer was recovered.
Wang Hong-chun (41) was with other rescuers in a rubber boat when it flipped over in a rapidly flowing river. Four of her team-mates survived.
At least 26 people remain missing from the rains.
The previous record for rainfall was in 1891, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said on its official Weibo account Wednesday, when the city saw 609mm of rain.
The earliest precise recordings made by machines are from 1883.
Thousands of people were evacuated to shelters in schools and other public buildings in suburban Beijing and in nearby cities.
The severity of the flooding took the Chinese capital by surprise.
Beijing usually has dry summers but had a stretch of record-breaking heat this year. – AP