1,600 FLIGHTS AXED IN BEIJING DUE TO STORM

Authorities warn of floods, landslides

BEIJING in some parts of the capital, but nine roads were still flooded and 171 tourist sites were shut.

At Beijing International, more than 1,600 flights were listed as cancelled since midnight and over 300 were delayed, the website of Beijing Capital International Airport Co Ltd showed.

Air China Ltd said on social media that about 225 of its flights in and out of the capital had been cancelled by 4pm.

Torrential rainstorms are frequent here in the summer months, often causing long delays at the airport.

One user of China’s Twitterlike Weibo said she had been stuck at the airport for eight hours waiting for a flight home.

“There are no free seats, I’m having to sit on the floor, I’m jetlagged and I’m really tired,” said the user, who goes by the handle “Vivian not soymilk”.

Other airports affected by the downpours included Shanghai, Nanjing in Jiangsu province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang along the Yangtze River delta.

The others were in northern regions: Shijiazhuang in Hebei, Taiyuan in Shanxi, Lanzhou in Gansu, Xining in Qinghai and Yinchuan in Ningxia.

In a statement, China’s National Meteorological Centre cautioned rescue crews working in Jiuzhaigou, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, to be on alert for landslides and lightning.

The extreme weather followed a tornado that struck Inner Mongolia on Friday, killing five people, injuring more than 50 people and destroying homes in a major city. Reuters