Four Dead, Eight Missing as Floods Wreck Villages in Northern China

Heavy rains triggered deadly floods across northern China on Monday, killing at least four people and leaving eight others missing.

Beijing and its neighboring provinces are now battling severe flooding and landslides that have forced thousands to evacuate their homes.

The disaster unfolded as the capital issued its second-highest rainstorm warning and the top alert for flooding.

The rain, expected to last through Tuesday, has overwhelmed villages, submerged roads, and swept away power lines.

In Hebei province near Chengde, a landslide crushed a village, killing four people. Eight others remain missing, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

China’s emergency department sent a team to the region after describing the flooding as “severe.” Two more people died over the weekend in Hebei.

In Fuping County, over 4,600 residents were forced to evacuate. In nearby Shanxi province, a bus plunged during the downpour, leaving one survivor and 13 missing.

Video footage showed farmlands and roads swallowed by muddy waters.

In Beijing’s Miyun district, over 4,000 people fled their homes.

Elderly villagers, like 67-year-old Cui Xueji, told AFP they’d never seen flooding this bad. “We prepared a little,” he said, “but nothing like this.”

AFP reporters also documented the chaos as a local reservoir released torrents of water.

Military trucks and ambulances navigated streets turned into rivers. Downed power lines and uprooted trees littered the area.

Crops vanished beneath the rising water. Some roads cracked apart, with exposed concrete and mangled guardrails.

Low-rise homes still stood, but were surrounded by fierce water currents in the mountainous villages.

In response, China’s National Development and Reform Commission released 50 million yuan ($7 million) for post-disaster recovery in Hebei.

The funds will help rebuild damaged infrastructure and assist victims.

Natural disasters like this strike China often in summer, but experts warn they are becoming more intense.

While China remains the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter, it also leads in renewable energy. The country has pledged to go carbon-neutral by 2060.

This month alone, eastern Shandong province saw flash floods that killed two people and left 10 missing.

A separate landslide in Sichuan also claimed five lives as it swept vehicles off a highway.

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