The very heavy rains in Hebei province, in northern China, left at least 10 new dead and 18 missing on Saturday, according to a still provisional report. Following this announcement, the provisional toll therefore establishes at least 30 the number of people who have died since the start of the week in the region neighboring the capital Beijing.
Typhoon Doksuri, downgraded to a storm this week after sweeping across the Philippine archipelago, hit parts of China hard with torrential rains. Beijing and its greater region have been particularly affected.
Thanks to a lull on the weather front, clean-up operations continue after the worst rainfall in years, which destroyed infrastructure and flooded entire neighborhoods.
More than 600,000 people evacuated
The most affected area is by far the province of Hebei, neighboring Beijing. In Baoding, the prefecture of the province, which has 1.5 million inhabitants, the vast majority of the population has been affected by these bad weather, the town hall said on Saturday. She reported at least 10 dead and 18 missing in her jurisdiction.
This assessment carried out at midday local time could increase further. The precedent for Beijing and Hebei which dated back to Tuesday had reported at least 20 deaths. More than 600,000 people in Baoding located in areas deemed to be at risk have so far been evacuated, local authorities said.
147 dead or missing in July
On Saturday, torrential rains hit northeastern China for the second consecutive day, in particular the provinces bordering Russia and North Korea. China has been facing extreme weather conditions and locally unusual temperatures in recent months, exacerbated by climate change according to scientists.
Chinese authorities announced on Friday that natural disasters left 147 people dead or missing in the country in July. Last month, Beijing and its region broke temperature records with locally over 40°C.
The rains that have hit the Chinese capital are the heaviest since records began 140 years ago, according to local meteorological services. A red alert remains in effect in Beijing due to “geological risks” such as landslides, linked to bad weather.