BEIJING was intensifying efforts in disaster relief yesterday by employing PLA helicopters to airdrop essential supplies and transfer stranded residents as relentless rain stretched into a fourth day in the capital and nearby cities. President Xi Jinping yesterday demanded all-out search and rescue of the people missing or trapped in floods and geological disasters in an instruction on flood prevention and disaster relief. Affected by Typhoon Doksuri, extreme rainfall was recorded in North China and the regions along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, triggering floods and geological disasters and causing heavy casualties. A total of 11 people have died and 27 others remained missing during rainstorms in Beijing, local authorities said yesterday. The deceased include four in Mentougou and two in Fangshan, the worst affected districts. Other fatalities include four in Changping District and one in Haidian District, according to the city’s flood control and drought relief headquarters. So far, around 127,000 residents across the city have been relocated due to the rainfall. Food delivery giant Meituan has added staff and extended delivery times as orders for vegetables, meat and eggs rose 50% and overall shopping on its app increased 20%, media reported. Several subway lines in the capital, including trains in western suburbs, were suspended yesterday. Beijing’s Mentougou District in the west saw dramatic damage a day before, after torrential rains turned roads into rivers, sweeping cars away. Dozens of flights were canceled Monday and yesterday and hundreds delayed at Beijing’s two airports, tracker app Flight Master showed. Beijing recorded an average of 260 mm of rainfall from Saturday to early Monday, with the Changping Wangjiayuan Reservoir logging the largest reading at 738.3 mm. The city government said the rainfall over the past few days has broken records from a severe storm 11 years ago. In July 2012, Beijing was hit by what was then the strongest storm in decades, with the city receiving 190.3 mm of rain in one day. The flood control in Haihe River Basin has entered a critical period as 13 rivers, including the mainstream and tributaries of the Yongding River, have exceeded warning levels. Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying said it was necessary to monitor the real-time flood changes online to adjust flood prevention measures in time. He emphasized the need to make precision forecasts on flood situations and have the public timely informed of flood-combat arrangements, the use of flood storage areas, personnel transfer, and project scheduling plans. The Haihe River Basin is densely populated and involves many large and medium-sized cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Tangshan and Qinhuangdao. The ministry has maintained a Level-II emergency response to floods in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in the north of the country and deployed 10 work teams for the flood response in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and other provinces and municipalities. (SD-Xinhua) | 