After The Rains

Source:Global Times Published: 2012-7-23 22:55:03

A family dries shoes in front of a house on Sunday in Beixin'an, Shijingshan district. Photos: GT/Li Hao
A family dries shoes in front of a house on Sunday in Beixin'an, Shijingshan district. Photo: GT/Li Hao
 

The sky has been spectacularly blue on Sunday and Monday in Beijing. But under the sunshine, leftover floodwaters and debris, especially in the capital's outskirts, serve as a grim reminder of the rainstorm that lashed the city from Friday evening to Saturday, the heaviest in 61 years. 

In downtown Beijing, all the flooded roads have been cleared and life has returned to normal. But in flood-hit suburbs, victims are still sifting through muddy houses, and wondering how to rebuild homes and restore roads. 

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing. In a sector of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Highway in southwestern Beijing's Fangshan district, rescuers are still dragging vehicles out of the waters that remain 6 meters deep over 2,000 square meters wide.

"The visibility is poor and we can see nothing underwater. So we have to use our hands to feel our way around," Hu Xipeng, from China Red Cross Blue Sky Search & Rescue Team, told Beijing Evening News on Monday. With diving equipment, together with 29 other rescuers, he had helped drag out and clear a total of 47 vehicles by 2 pm on Monday. According to their underwater search, a total of 81 vehicles were drowned. On Sunday morning, three dead bodies were found under a flyover nearby.

According to official figures, rainstorms had killed 37 people and seven people missing by press time. The disaster has affected over 1.9 million people and 14,000 square meters, or 83 percent of the city's total area. In Fangshan district, more than 20,990 people had to be evacuated. Hundreds of vehicles were damaged and the total losses are estimated to have neared 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billon).

Vehicles submerged in an underpass to a highway in Fangshan Photo: GT/Li Hao
Vehicles submerged in an underpass to a highway in Fangshan Photo: GT/Li Hao
 
A street cleaning truck hangs on the edge of a bridge in Lesi village, Fangshan. Photo: CFP 
A street cleaning truck hangs on the edge of a bridge in Lesi village, Fangshan. Photo: CFP
 
A man claims his license plate from a restaurant owner who collected several during the flood in Shifoying, Chaoyang district. Photo: GT/Guo Yingguang
A man claims his license plate from a restaurant owner who collected several during the flood in Shifoying, Chaoyang district. Photo: GT/Guo Yingguang
 
An old man sits on the debris in Tanmugang village, Fangshan district. Photos: CFP
An old man sits on the debris in Tanmugang village, Fangshan district. Photos: CFP


Posted in: Society, In-Depth

blog comments powered by Disqus