People evacuated, trains suspended as downpours lash north China

BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Torrential rains have wreaked havoc across northern China, forcing evacuations, disrupting traffic, and leaving 30 people dead in Beijing and eight more in neighboring Hebei Province, where a landslide struck a village.

The rainstorm alert in the Chinese capital was canceled on Tuesday as the rainbands weakened and shifted eastward, although showers were still forecast for the afternoon and evening.

The city remains on its highest level of flood-control emergency response.

In Mentougou District, 15,195 people had been evacuated as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, and all 19 major tourist sites had been closed. In Pinggu District, more than 12,800 people have been relocated, with 40 emergency shelters set up in gyms, schools, hotels and village offices. A total of 34 teams involving 1,073 personnel have been deployed for flood response in Pinggu.

The city's meteorological bureau said the Chinese capital recorded an average of 72.2 mm of rainfall between 8 p.m. Monday and 10 a.m. Tuesday, with a peak of 196.5 mm reported at Yancun Station in Fangshan District.

Authorities confirmed that 30 people had died in Beijing as of midnight Monday, including 28 in Miyun District and two in Yanqing. In Hebei Province, a rain-triggered landslide in Luanping County has killed eight people, with four others still missing. Officials said that all residents of the affected village will be relocated as a safety precaution.

In neighboring Tianjin Municipality, more than 10,500 people had been evacuated from Jizhou District after floodwaters entered 13 villages along the Juhe River as of Monday night.

"The floodwaters swept right past my doorstep, even our tricycle was carried away," said a 63-year-old evacuee surnamed Wei.

Du Hanyong, principal of a middle school serving as a temporary shelter in Jizhou, said the facility is stocked with sufficient food, water and essentials, and the cafeteria is ready to operate if needed.

The downpours have also disrupted rail services. Railway authorities on Tuesday temporarily suspended some trains on the Beijing-Harbin high-speed railway, and multiple trains on a railway linking Beijing with Baotou, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, have been suspended or rerouted.

China's Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management on Tuesday allocated 350 million yuan (about 48.94 million U.S. dollars) in central government disaster relief funds to nine provincial-level regions. ■