In Beijing's western suburbs, cars were swept away on Monday as relentless rain since the weekend transformed roads into rivers, killing at least two and trapping hundreds, despite an overnight evacuation of tens of thousands from their homes, Reuters reports.
Hundreds of roads have become flooded in China's capital, with videos posted by state media showing half-submerged vehicles in Mentougou district pulled along by fast-moving torrents as the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri dumped record rainfall on the city of nearly 22 million.
Two bodies were found in a river during an emergency patrol in Mentougou as rescuers pulled hundreds to safety in other parts of the city.
Besides Beijing, heavy rain continued to soak the neighbouring city of Tianjin as well as Hebei province in a region nearly the size of Britain in the wake of Doksuri, which was downgraded to a tropical depression on the weekend.
Three of the five rivers that make up the Hai river basin rose to dangerous levels on Monday. Some houses were washed into the Yongding river, and nearly 55,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Baoding city, state media reported.
Doksuri was one of the strongest storms to hit China in years and caused widespread flooding over the weekend in the southern province of Fujian, driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
Average rainfall in Beijing reached 176.9 mm (7 inches) between Saturday night and Monday afternoon, with the maximum recorded rainfall in at a weather station in Mentougou hitting 580.9 mm (23 inches), according to state media.
