The article text:
This week, a catastrophic flooding event on the outskirts of Beijing led to the tragic loss of 31 elderly residents at a nursing home, as confirmed by local officials. Distressing footage depicted emergency responders navigating through chest-high water in a desperate effort to rescue individuals trapped inside the facility located in the Miyun District. Many of those who perished were reportedly immobile and unable to escape on their own.
Officials have admitted to "loopholes in emergency planning" that contributed to the disaster, calling the incident a painful lesson and a "wake-up call" for better preparedness. Across Beijing, the floods have claimed a total of 44 lives amid a summer marked by extreme weather phenomena impacting large parts of China.
Reports indicate that approximately 77 elderly residents were present in the nursing home when the floods struck, with about 40 individuals being trapped as water levels surged to nearly 2 meters (6 feet). The care home, located in Taishitun Town, provides assistance to severely disabled, low-income individuals, or those receiving minimal living allowances. "For a long time, the area was deemed safe from flooding and was omitted from the evacuation plan," stated an official during a press briefing on Thursday.
This tragic event follows earlier reports of significant weather-related fatalities in nearby Hebei province, where 16 individuals lost their lives due to intense rainfall. In the city of Chengde alone, eight fatalities were recorded, with 18 residents still unaccounted for.
Beijing has a history of flooding during the summer months, with the July 2012 disaster claiming 79 lives after 190mm of rain fell within a single day, marking one of the city's deadliest flooding events. As summer progresses, China's floods have caused widespread destruction throughout various regions.
Earlier this month, Typhoon Wipha struck eastern China, resulting in two deaths and ten missing individuals in Shandong province. Additionally, a landslide in Ya'an city two weeks prior killed three. Experts are increasingly linking these extreme weather incidents, including flooding, to climate change, raising concerns about the risks they pose to China's population and its multitrillion-dollar agricultural sector.
According to China's emergency management ministry, natural disasters in the first half of the year have resulted in damages totaling 54.11 billion yuan ($7.5 billion). Notably, flooding has accounted for over 90% of these losses, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced disaster response and preparedness measures in the face of increasingly unpredictable weather.
This week, a catastrophic flooding event on the outskirts of Beijing led to the tragic loss of 31 elderly residents at a nursing home, as confirmed by local officials. Distressing footage depicted emergency responders navigating through chest-high water in a desperate effort to rescue individuals trapped inside the facility located in the Miyun District. Many of those who perished were reportedly immobile and unable to escape on their own.
Officials have admitted to "loopholes in emergency planning" that contributed to the disaster, calling the incident a painful lesson and a "wake-up call" for better preparedness. Across Beijing, the floods have claimed a total of 44 lives amid a summer marked by extreme weather phenomena impacting large parts of China.
Reports indicate that approximately 77 elderly residents were present in the nursing home when the floods struck, with about 40 individuals being trapped as water levels surged to nearly 2 meters (6 feet). The care home, located in Taishitun Town, provides assistance to severely disabled, low-income individuals, or those receiving minimal living allowances. "For a long time, the area was deemed safe from flooding and was omitted from the evacuation plan," stated an official during a press briefing on Thursday.
This tragic event follows earlier reports of significant weather-related fatalities in nearby Hebei province, where 16 individuals lost their lives due to intense rainfall. In the city of Chengde alone, eight fatalities were recorded, with 18 residents still unaccounted for.
Beijing has a history of flooding during the summer months, with the July 2012 disaster claiming 79 lives after 190mm of rain fell within a single day, marking one of the city's deadliest flooding events. As summer progresses, China's floods have caused widespread destruction throughout various regions.
Earlier this month, Typhoon Wipha struck eastern China, resulting in two deaths and ten missing individuals in Shandong province. Additionally, a landslide in Ya'an city two weeks prior killed three. Experts are increasingly linking these extreme weather incidents, including flooding, to climate change, raising concerns about the risks they pose to China's population and its multitrillion-dollar agricultural sector.
According to China's emergency management ministry, natural disasters in the first half of the year have resulted in damages totaling 54.11 billion yuan ($7.5 billion). Notably, flooding has accounted for over 90% of these losses, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced disaster response and preparedness measures in the face of increasingly unpredictable weather.
