passengers checking train information at the Beijing West Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China on July 20, 2016.The continuous rain led to delay or suspension of several trains to and from Beijing. (Photo:Xinhua/Wang Jianhua)
Hundreds of flights and trains were canceled or suspended as torrential rain continued to rage in North China on Wednesday, leaving 13 dead and 62 missing.
An orange alert, the second-highest in a four-tier system, was issued for heavy rain in Beijing on Wednesday.
From 1 am to 2 pm, the average precipitation in the capital reached 129.4 mm, with the maximum precipitation of 334 mm recorded in the suburban district of Fangshan, according to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. Heavy rain is expected to last until Wednesday night.
Affected by the severe weather, 237 of the scheduled 1,715 flights had been canceled at the Beijing Capital International Airport as of 7 pm. In Tianjin, the downpour also resulted in the cancellation of 188 flights and delayed another 80 as of 3 pm.
The Beijing Railway Bureau canceled all regular speed trains leaving Beijing via the Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Jiulong railway lines to southern China due to the weather. Dozens of trains leaving Beijing were delayed.
The railway authority said people holding tickets for trains canceled because of floods could get full refunds from ticket windows within 30 days.
The rain also left the public transportation system in Beijing in trouble. Nine underpasses were flooded, according to Beijing water authorities. As of 5 pm, 164 bus routes in Beijing were affected, with 15 of them suspended. Some subway entrances were closed temporarily, but passengers could still get into the stations via other entrances.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the rain in northern China that started on Monday has affected more than 1.7 million people in six provincial regions.
Direct economic losses were 840 million yuan ($130 million), and 68,000 people had been evacuated.
