The Chinese capital registered the highest amount of rain in 140 years after the passage of Typhoon Doksuri, which has left at least 11 dead and thousands of evacuees in the city, the Beijing Meteorological Office reported on Wednesday.
The effects of typhoon Doksuri, one of the strongest to hit China in recent years and which devastated the south and east of the country last week, caused the fall between Saturday and Monday of 744 millimeters of water in the Wangjiayuan Reservoir area, the area of ??Beijing that recorded the heaviest rainfall.
In some districts on the outskirts of the city, where most of the casualties and damages have occurred, there was also a large volume of rainfall: Mentougou fell 580.9 mm and Fangshan 406 mm.
The torrential rain has caused flooding, landslides and the overflow of several rivers that have washed away roads, vehicles and homes.
The images disseminated by the media and social networks show scenes of chaos, with people trapped in their vehicles or in their homes.
The previous rain record in Beijing dates back to 1891, when 609 millimeters were recorded between July 23 and 29, the institution reported on its official account on the Weibo social network -similar to Twitter, censored in the Asian country-. The first instrumental record in the Chinese capital dates from 1883, when 510.3 millimeters were measured between July 23 and 29.
Doksuri made landfall on Friday morning on the coast of the city of Jinjiang in the southeastern province of Fujian, with a maximum wind speed of 155 kilometers per hour to gradually weaken over the weekend and as it moved north.
However, local meteorologists warned that the lingering effects of Doksuri would cause heavy rains in the north of the country. In the northern province of Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, the rains have killed at least 9 people as of Tuesday.
The local Chinese press reports that the country could experience high-risk floods and typhoons throughout the month of August. According to a document published jointly by organizations such as the National Commission for Disaster Reduction, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Management, the north of the country will experience high temperatures and drought in August, while some areas in the south and the Eastern part of the country will witness above-average rainfall, with greater risk of natural disasters such as floods, urban and agricultural flooding, strong gusts of wind or hail.
The upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake in the center of the country could experience flooding above alert levels, the agencies warned.
Four to six typhoons are also forecast in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea, fewer than normally expected for this time of year, but two to three of them “will make landfall or affect China’s weather systems.” Officials predict that four heat waves will devastate various parts of the country in August.
The authorities noted that China is facing a crucial summer peak for electricity consumption, something that already caused supply problems during last summer’s drought in the center of the country.
Authorities also warned of forest fires in some parts of Sichuan (center), Chongqing (center) and Xinjiang (west).
In 2021 and 2022, the summers were marked by rainfall of an unprecedented intensity in decades in the center of the country, which caused more than 300 deaths, and by a persistent drought in the center and south, respectively.
Song Lianchun, a meteorologist with the National Meteorological Center, then stated: “We cannot say that an extreme weather event is directly caused by climate change, but in the long term, global warming causes an increase in the intensity and frequency of such events. “.
