Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ZHOU YI / XINHUA / XINHUA VIA AFP 14:49 p.m., July 30, 2023

This Sunday, torrential rains, driven by Typhoon Doksuri, arrive on the Chinese capital Beijing and its large region. Authorities evacuated tens of thousands of residents and called on others to stay home. To prevent any incidents, Beijing tourist sites have been closed, such as the Forbidden City.

The Chinese capital Beijing and its greater region face torrential rains on Sunday, driven by Typhoon Doksuri. Authorities evacuated tens of thousands of residents and called on others to stay home. To prevent any incidents, Beijing tourist sites have been closed, such as the Forbidden City, the popular Universal Studios amusement park, libraries and museums. The huge National Center for the Performing Arts, located near Tiananmen Square, also closed to the public, has canceled its opera performances and concerts scheduled for Sunday.

Cultural, sports and entertainment activities have been suspended in Beijing. Underground establishments and businesses have been ordered to close due to the risk of flooding.

Hundreds of millions of people affected by red alert

China is until at least Monday afternoon on red alert rainfall in a large area of the north of the country, where hundreds of millions of people live. It includes Beijing (22 million inhabitants), the neighboring metropolis of Tianjin (14 million), the neighboring province of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong (east) and Henan (center). In the city of Baoding, about a hundred kilometers southwest of Beijing, police officers were helping motorists navigate partially flooded roads, where cyclists had water up to their calves, according to images broadcast by state television CCTV.

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Beijing City Hall has asked schools to temporarily stop welcoming the public, as some students and teachers still go there, despite the summer holidays, for training or extracurricular activities, including sports. In the capital, more than 27,000 people living in at-risk areas have been evacuated and some 20,000 in Shijiazhuang, a large city 250 km southwest of the capital, according to state media.

Risk of landslides

The Ministry of Water Resources on Sunday raised its response to flood risk to level 2, including more agents mobilized to control rivers and dams. Some rivers have exceeded alert thresholds and landslides could occur. A swollen river in a mountainous village on the outskirts of Beijing caused a torrent that fortunately caused no casualties, 62 homes having been evacuated the day before from this risk area, said a local newspaper. The capital called on its residents to "go out only if necessary".

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A widely respected advice, with a number of cars and pedestrians in the streets that was Sunday night much smaller than usual. No casualties have so far been reported, according to state media. The municipality also urged companies "not to force their employees to go to their place of work if it is not necessary". Doksuri has been sweeping China since Friday. It is moving from southeast to north, according to the weather service.

Authorities have been very cautious about heavy rainfall since 2021, when severe flooding in the center of the country killed more than 300 people, mostly in the major city of Zhengzhou. Many motorists had been trapped by the sudden rise in water in road tunnels, which had created controversy, with some accusing the municipality of having delayed sending weather alerts.