Heavy Rains Kill Two in Beijing as Storm Lashes Northern China

Torrential rains have damaged roads and killed two people in Beijing, state media reported on Monday, as remnants of Typhoon Doksuri lashed the Chinese capital and other northern regions.

The people were found dead Monday morning in Mentougou, a district in western Beijing, according to CCTV’s Weibo post. The area has been hit by continuous heavy rains since Saturday evening and about 5,000 people were earlier evacuated from the district.

Areas including central and southern Beijing and northern Tianjin recorded 20-80 millimeters of rainfall on Monday morning, according to the National Meteorological Center’s Weibo post. Beijing has urged residents to consider working from home, avoid water ways and beware of landslides and flooding.

Beijing, Tianjin, and parts of Henan, Shanxi and Shandong provinces were on their highest alert for rain after remnants of Doksuri swept through southern China and continued to move northward, threatening to knock down power lines and inundate crops. Residents of the capital were told not to commute to work unless necessary.

Doksuri was one of the strongest typhoons to make landfall in China this year. It hit the southeastern province of Fujian on Friday, forcing local authorities to close schools and suspend public transport. Power lines were disrupted and the weather bureau reported “serious damage” to coastal fisheries.

Torrential rain could flatten key crops like corn and flood low-lying fields, the National Meteorological Center said Monday. It may also facilitate the spread of diseases, adding to disruptions to food supply caused by extreme weather this year. Farmers are asked to drain fields and pick ripe fruits in time.

Residents in Baoding city and Zhuozhou city in Hebei have also been asked to work from home on Monday. Power services in Zhejiang and Fujian had largely been restored by late Sunday, State Grid Corp. of China said in a statement.

Meanwhile, another typhoon is on the way. Zhejiang province in eastern China has activated a level four emergency response, as Typhoon Khanun approaches, state-owned Xinhua reported. Khanun is the sixth typhoon this year, according to Xinhua. Level four is the lowest in the four-tier emergency response system.

–With assistance from Lulu Shen and Luz Ding.