31 die in Chinese elder care centre as human cost from flooding disaster rises

Chinese officials have declared 31 people in an elderly care centre in Beijing died during heavy rainfall and flooding, bringing the disaster death toll in China’s capital to 44, while nine people remain missing.

The number of casualties in neighbouring Hebei province has also risen in recent days, indicating the severity and mounting human cost of the emergency which started last week, although no official figures for the province or overall data have been released.

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‘A big storm unseen in a century’: heavy rainfall in Beijing kills at least 30

At a press conference on Thursday, Beijing vice-mayor Xia Linmao said the city had been hit by extremely heavy rain from July 23 to 29, causing severe damage in mountainous districts, including Miyun, Huairou, Yanqing and Pinggu.

Worst affected this week was Miyun, a mountainous district northeast of Beijing, where the disaster claimed the lives of 37 people, including the dozens who died in the elder care centre, although no further information about the circumstances of their deaths has been released.

Yu Weiguo, secretary of the Miyun party committee, said that according to a preliminary count, 162 villages in 17 towns across the district were affected, with more than 31,000 houses, 6,994 vehicles and 10 roads damaged.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Monday that the heavy rainfall and flooding in Miyun “have caused heavy casualties”, according to Xinhua.

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