Beijing official admits ‘gaps’ in readiness after deadly floods ravage northern China

A Beijing official admitted on Thursday there had been "gaps" in the city's readiness for heavy rains that killed dozens of people.

"There were gaps in our preparatory plans. Our knowledge of extreme weather was lacking. This tragic lesson has warned us that putting the people first, putting human life first, is more than a slogan," Yu Weiguo, ruling Communist Party boss in the hard-hit Miyun district, told a news conference.

The admission came days after heavy rains killed more than 30 people in the Beijing region and forced authorities to evacuate tens of thousands as swaths of northern China were lashed by torrential downpours that sparked landslides and flooding earlier this week.

The storm knocked out power in more than 130 villages in Beijing, destroyed communication lines and damaged more than 30 sections of road. 

Heavy flooding washed away cars and downed power poles in Miyun, an outlying northeastern district of Beijing. More than 80,000 people were relocated in Beijing, including about 17,000 in Miyun, according to Beijing city officials.

'Once in a hundred years'

Clean-up efforts began on Wednesday as weary locals worked desperately to retrieve what belongings they could find.

"It's the kind of flood seen once in a hundred years," said Pang, a 52-year-old resident of Taishitun, situated just over 100 kilometres (61 miles) northeast of Beijing's bustling city centre.

In Anzhouba village, muddy waters had receded, exposing scraps of metal and broken branches.

Local Hu recounted a frantic call to her stepdaughter, 23, who was home with her parents when the waters struck on Saturday night.

"But before I could finish my words, the call dropped," she told AFP.

She later found out that rushing water from the river around 10 metres away had flooded the house and blocked the front door.

Her daughter was forced to kick out the window and evacuate her grandparents to the neighbour's balcony, dragging her disabled grandfather as his wife pushed from below.

"I've never seen this before, in all my 40 years of life. Neither have those who've lived 80 or 90 years," she said.

Authorities have mobilised the army to help disaster relief operations, according to Chinese news stations.

The government and Communist Party have collectively allocated around 490 million yuan ($68 million) for disaster relief in nine regions hit by heavy rains, national broadcaster CCTV reported. Another 200 million yuan will be allocated for the capital.

In 2023, heavy rain killed more than 80 people across northern and northeastern China, including at least 29 people in Hebei, where severe flooding destroyed homes and crops.

Some reports had suggested the province shouldered the burden of a government decision to divert the deluge away from Beijing.

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 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.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)