China hit by severe floods, 19,000 evacuated

BEIJING — Torrential rain in northern China has dropped almost a full year’s worth of rainfall on Baoding, a major industrial city near Beijing. Over 19,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as streets flooded and roads were cut off.

In just 24 hours, 447.4 mm (17.6 inches) of rain fell in Yi, a town in western Baoding. This is close to the area’s yearly average rainfall of just over 500 mm. Records were broken at several weather stations in Hebei province, where Baoding is located.

According to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), 19,453 people from 6,171 households had to be evacuated. A short video shared on social media showed two police officers wading through knee-deep water in the rain at night.

The rainfall was compared to the powerful 2023 typhoon, which caused Beijing's heaviest rains in 140 years.

Zhuozhou, a city in Baoding that was badly hit in 2023, saw over 190 mm of rain by Friday morning. Several roads and bridges were shut down.

Northern China has been seeing more and more heavy rain in recent years. Scientists suggest that global warming is increasing rainfall in this normally dry region. Hebei province saw 640.3 mm of rain last year, which is 26.6% higher than its long-term average. Since 2020, Hebei has experienced unusually wet years in a row.

Last summer, Baoding and nearby cities got 40% more rain than usual — some areas in Baoding saw up to 80% more.

This extreme rainfall is part of a bigger pattern of severe weather across China, driven by the East Asian monsoon. These events are putting pressure on China’s old flood-control systems and threatening its $2.8 trillion agricultural sector.

Baoding stayed under a red alert for heavy rain on Friday, while Hebei raised its emergency response level.

In Beijing, about 160 km (100 miles) from Baoding, the rain also intensified. The city was expected to receive over 50 mm of rain in just six hours from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning — possibly the heaviest since this year’s flood season began. Authorities warned of flash floods, landslides, and other dangers.

Further north in Inner Mongolia, heavy rains disrupted train services. Several passenger trains were suspended in high-risk areas from Friday through Tuesday.