Beijing, Hebei make all-out efforts to deal with deluge

Beijing took multiple measures on Monday to cope with the heaviest rain to hit the capital this year.

The downpours, along with strong winds, started on Sunday night and are forecast to last until Tuesday morning. From 6 pm on Sunday to 7 pm on Monday, an average of 100.4 millimeters of rain fell across the capital, according to the city’s meteorological bureau.

However, by late Monday afternoon there was no deep surface water on major roads in urban areas, after city authorities activated pumping stations. Flood warnings were also issued for residents of high-risk areas.

Kindergartens and primary and secondary schools in the city suspended classes on Monday and company employees were encouraged to work from home or alter their travel times.

College field trips and other outdoor group activities were discouraged.

The Beijing Water Authority issued a level-III emergency flood response at 2 pm on Sunday, the first of its kind this year. Staff members were sent to monitor pumping stations while other employees were placed on standby. A total of 400,000 cubic meters of water storage was allocated to cope with the heavy downpours. By 5 am on Monday, 57 water pumping stations had drained 140,000 cubic meters of water.

Zhang Ling, a white-collar worker in Beijing’s Haidian district, said she had planned to take a business trip on Monday, but her flight was canceled due to the storms. “I thought about taking a train, but I heard rail services might also be affected, so I decided to reschedule,” she said.

At 2:10 pm on Sunday, the China Railway Beijing Group announced on its Weibo account that about 30 trains on the Beijing to Guangzhou line were delayed because of strong winds, which had severely affected the trains’ contact system, a key source of locomotive power.

According to Beijing Capital International Airport, 21 flights were canceled by 10 am on Monday.

Up to 49 bus lines in areas of Beijing at greater risk of flooding were canceled due to the heavy rainfall, the Beijing Public Transportation Group said. To cater to Beijing commuters’ needs, especially during morning and evening rush hours, the group added 180 buses in urban areas on Monday.

Chen Lu, an engineer who usually drives to work, took a bus instead on Monday morning. “To avoid a traffic jam, which always happens on rainy days, I took a bus, which can use dedicated bus lanes during the rush hours,” he said. “It was safe and fast.”

The storms also affected neighboring Hebei province, where roads in some cities quickly became waterlogged.

In Xingtai’s Ningjin county, where heavy rain started at about 8 pm on Sunday, cars had to navigate streets where water came halfway up their tires, a video on the Hebei Meteorological Bureau’s Weibo account showed.

Urban management workers drained the water in an hour.