8 more people die in flooding as heavy rain lashes China
18 are still unaccounted for.
Extreme rains delivered a year's worth of rain in less than a week in some areas.
Extreme weather killed at least eight people in the city of Chengde just outside the Chinese capital Beijing, with 18 still unaccounted for, as heavy rainfall pounded the hilly region over the past week.
The deaths occurred in villages within the Xinglong area of Chengde in Hebei province, state-run Xinhua reported late on Wednesday citing local authorities, without specifying when or how the people died.
Work is still under way to locate those missing, Xinhua said.
Set against mountainous terrain, Chengde was known as a resort town for Qing dynasty emperors to escape Beijing's heat in the summer centuries ago.
Extreme rains that began last Wednesday have lashed Beijing and surrounding regions, pouring a year's worth of rain in less than a week in some areas and killing at least 30 in the outskirts of the capital.
READ | 30 dead, 80 000 residents relocated as 'intense volume of rainfall' hits China
Twenty-eight of those deaths occurred in hilly Miyun district.
The deaths in Chengde occurred in villages which border Miyun situated about 25km away from the Miyun reservoir, the largest in China's north.
The reservoir saw record-breaking inflow and outflow of water, and overall water level and capacity during this round of rainfall which devastated nearby towns.
At its peak on Sunday, up to 6 550 cubic metres of water - about 2.5 Olympic-sized pools - flooded into the reservoir every second, pushing its capacity to a record high of 3.63 billion cubic metres since it was built in 1960.
The villages where eight have died sit on higher elevations in a valley, upstream of the Miyun reservoir.
In another village to the north of the reservoir, a landslide on Monday killed eight people while four remained missing.
Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for Chinese policymakers, with officials partially attributing a slowdown in factory activities to heavy rains and flooding.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
6 minutes ago
- CNN
Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki erupts again, spewing giant ash plumes miles away
Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, erupted for a second straight day, sending a column of volcanic materials and ash up to 18 kilometers (11 miles) into the sky early Saturday and blanketing villages with debris. No casualties were immediately reported. Another eruption Friday evening had sent clouds of ash up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) high and had lit up the night sky with glowing lava and bolts of lightning. The two eruptions happened in a span of less than five hours. Indonesia's Geology Agency recorded an avalanche of searing gas clouds mixed with rocks and lava traveling up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) down the slopes of the mountain. Drone observations showed deep movement of magma, setting off tremors that registered on seismic monitors. Volcanic material, including hot thumb-sized gravel, was thrown up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater, covering nearby villages and towns with thick volcanic residue, the agency said. It asked residents to be vigilant about heavy rainfall that could trigger lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano. Saturday's eruption was one of Indonesia's largest since 2010 when Mount Merapi, the country's most volatile volcano, erupted on the densely populated island of Java. That eruption killed more than 350 people and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate. It also came less than a month after a major eruption on July 7 forced the delay or cancelation of dozens of flights at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport, and covered roads and rice fields with thick, gray mud and rocks. Lewotobi Laki Laki, a 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano on the remote island of Flores, has been at the highest alert level since it erupted on June 18, and an exclusion zone has been doubled to a 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) radius as eruptions became more frequent. The Indonesian government has permanently relocated thousands of residents after a series of eruptions there killed nine people and destroyed thousands of homes in November. Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 280 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the 'Ring of Fire,' a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
CNN
7 minutes ago
- CNN
Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki erupts again, spewing giant ash plumes miles away
Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, erupted for a second straight day, sending a column of volcanic materials and ash up to 18 kilometers (11 miles) into the sky early Saturday and blanketing villages with debris. No casualties were immediately reported. Another eruption Friday evening had sent clouds of ash up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) high and had lit up the night sky with glowing lava and bolts of lightning. The two eruptions happened in a span of less than five hours. Indonesia's Geology Agency recorded an avalanche of searing gas clouds mixed with rocks and lava traveling up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) down the slopes of the mountain. Drone observations showed deep movement of magma, setting off tremors that registered on seismic monitors. Volcanic material, including hot thumb-sized gravel, was thrown up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater, covering nearby villages and towns with thick volcanic residue, the agency said. It asked residents to be vigilant about heavy rainfall that could trigger lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano. Saturday's eruption was one of Indonesia's largest since 2010 when Mount Merapi, the country's most volatile volcano, erupted on the densely populated island of Java. That eruption killed more than 350 people and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate. It also came less than a month after a major eruption on July 7 forced the delay or cancelation of dozens of flights at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport, and covered roads and rice fields with thick, gray mud and rocks. Lewotobi Laki Laki, a 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano on the remote island of Flores, has been at the highest alert level since it erupted on June 18, and an exclusion zone has been doubled to a 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) radius as eruptions became more frequent. The Indonesian government has permanently relocated thousands of residents after a series of eruptions there killed nine people and destroyed thousands of homes in November. Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 280 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the 'Ring of Fire,' a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
Washington Post
37 minutes ago
- Washington Post
CWG Live updates: Beautiful summertime weekend with sunshine and low humidity
Welcome to updated around-the-clock by Capital Weather Gang meteorologists. Happening now: The kind of day you want to spend some time enjoying outside. Pleasantly cool this morning with comfortable highs within a couple degrees of 80. What's next? More of this splendid weather through Sunday and to start the workweek. The next rain chance may come along by Wednesday. Today's daily digit — 9/10: Sun, pleasant temperatures and low humidity. About as much as you can hope for in early August. | 🤚 Your call? The digit is a somewhat subjective rating of the day's weather, on a 0-to-10 scale. Forecast in detail Today (Saturday): North winds and temperatures nearly 10 degrees below average. Tough in January, excellent in August. Humidity is hard to notice as highs top out in the upper 70s to lower 80s under partial sunshine. Confidence: Medium-High 😎 Nice Day! Tonight: Skies are mainly clear through the evening and overnight. Low temperatures range from the upper 50s in the coolest spots well north and west to the mid-60s downtown. Perhaps a patch of fog in usual hot spots for that. Confidence: Medium-High Tomorrow (Sunday): We might see more sun than today. Temperatures are also up a notch, with highs ranging from near 80 to the mid-80s. Confidence: Medium-High 😎 Nice Day! Tomorrow night: If you enjoy tonight, you'll also like this one. It's pretty similar, with plentiful stars and lows about 60 to 65. Confidence: Medium-High A look ahead More of the same Monday into Tuesday. We see more clouds and slightly increased humidity with time, especially by Tuesday. Highs mainly around 80 to the mid-80s. Confidence: Medium Plan on a return of rain chances and clouds that come along for Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures should stay moderated in the low or mid-80s. Turning hotter by late week and next weekend. Confidence: Medium Today's daily digit — 9/10: Sun, pleasant temperatures and low humidity. About as much as you can hope for in early August. | 🤚 Your call? The digit is a somewhat subjective rating of the day's weather, on a 0-to-10 scale. Forecast in detail Today (Saturday): North winds and temperatures nearly 10 degrees below average. Tough in January, excellent in August. Humidity is hard to notice as highs top out in the upper 70s to lower 80s under partial sunshine. Confidence: Medium-High 😎 Nice Day! Tonight: Skies are mainly clear through the evening and overnight. Low temperatures range from the upper 50s in the coolest spots well north and west to the mid-60s downtown. Perhaps a patch of fog in usual hot spots for that. Confidence: Medium-High Tomorrow (Sunday): We might see more sun than today. Temperatures are also up a notch, with highs ranging from near 80 to the mid-80s. Confidence: Medium-High 😎 Nice Day! Tomorrow night: If you enjoy tonight, you'll also like this one. It's pretty similar, with plentiful stars and lows about 60 to 65. Confidence: Medium-High A look ahead More of the same Monday into Tuesday. We see more clouds and slightly increased humidity with time, especially by Tuesday. Highs mainly around 80 to the mid-80s. Confidence: Medium Plan on a return of rain chances and clouds that come along for Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures should stay moderated in the low or mid-80s. Turning hotter by late week and next weekend. Confidence: Medium
