A Beijing flood prevention worker opens a gutter drain grate during a rainstorm last year to ease water on the road. Photo: CFP

With its towering skyscrapers, sprawling urban population and traffic-plagued ringed roads, Beijing boasts all the traits of an international metropolis. But the city's worst storm in 61 years on July 21 that claimed at least 77 lives and incurred economic losses to the tune of 11.64 billion yuan ($1.82 billion) revealed beneath the city's surface lies a problem in urgent need of tackling.

The storm severely tested the ability of Beijing's infrastructure, especially its drainage system, to cope with heavy rain, as well as rescuers' readiness to come to the aid of people caught in life-threatening situations from the deluge.

Better prepared to respond

Minimizing the damage wreaked by heavy rain remains one of the key objectives of city planning authorities. The Beijing Meteorological Bureau (BMB), which on the eve of the July 21 storm issued an orange alert, the second most severe warning, was criticized for not doing more to alert people of the severity of the wild weather.

Qu Xiaobo, the BMB's vice director, explained on July 22 that due to the lack of a database station the bureau couldn't ensure text messages were sent to the city's cellphone users - a claim that was swiftly denied by the country's three telecom giants.

"There is nothing that prevents China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom from providing alerts to cellphone users to brace for upcoming natural disasters," Zhang Mingtian, a senior consultant at China Telecom, posted on his Sina Weibo microblog account.

To avoid another potential backlash from the public, the BMB teamed up with China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom on July 25 to send more than 11 million text messages to cellphone users, alerting them of an approaching storm forecast to hit Beijing.

The BMB also cooperated with Beijing TV to provide scrolling weather updates to viewers, while issuing a blue alert, the least severe warning.

While an overhaul of the weather forecast system is underway, emergency services are also stepping up their efforts to better prepare for natural disasters following public criticism of a botched rescue operation that failed to save a man who drowned in his car at the Guangqumen Bridge underpass on July 21.

Zi Xiangdong, media officer at the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB), told Metro Beijing that police are taking extra measures to ensure people remain safe during storms. "Our police are ready to be deployed and respond to incidents around the clock," said Zi.

The PSB revealed in a press release that traffic wardens throughout urban areas of Beijing susceptible to flooding are all equipped with warning boards to alert motorists if the depth of water on roads reaches more than 20 centimeters. Police and firefighters are also equipped with life jackets and ropes to help those stranded in deep floodwaters.

Public works down the drain

One of the magnets of controversy in the aftermath of Beijing's July 21 storm was the city's network of sewers, particularly its inability to cope with heavy rain.

The Beijing Drainage Group's deputy general manager, Zheng Jiang, said in a press release issued on July 22 that the city's Soviet-model sewers and roads were to blame for many roads being flooded.

"The design standards of underpasses are poor because they were constructed in the 1980s," said Zheng. "It makes our underpass drainage system vulnerable."

Yu Yaping, director of the media department at the Beijing Water Authority, agreed with this assessment, conceding the city's current drainage system was only able to drain around one-tenth of rain that fell during the July 21 storm.

"Beijing's drainage system is designed to cope with a maximum of 50 millimeters of rainfall, which the city might expect to see once every three years," Yu told Metro Beijing.

"The July 21 storm resulted in rainfall of 100 millimeters in most urban areas. Fangshan district even saw 500 millimeters, well beyond the drainage system's capacity."

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, noted Beijing's aging infrastructure has struggled to keep up with the pace of the city's rapid development.

"There are too many underpasses and tunnels in Beijing. When it rains, these areas naturally flood. Beijing must expand its sewer network to solve this problem, but this is easier said than done because there's inadequate space for such expansion," said Ma.

"The city's outskirts used to have many swamps, lakes and rivers - all natural waterways useful for drainage. Now, they have been filled in and converted into residential compounds. How can you expect water to effectively drain when natural waterways disappear?"

Making every drop count

To a limited degree, authorities have conceded Beijing's flawed urban planning contributed to the scale of devastation wreaked by the July 21 storm. Guo Jinlong, Beijing's municipal party secretary, said on July 27 that urban planning in future will be "more scientific" and "follow the laws of nature."

But as Yu points out, upgrading Beijing's drainage system is a challenging task. Aside from being out of sight of the public, drainage is often neglected by many cities because investment in public works doesn't yield financial returns.

"Power cables, communication lines, water supplies and the central heating network are all situated underground. To quickly upgrade the drainage system is impossible, but we're taking firm action in this direction," Yu told Metro Beijing, adding that efforts were also underway to improve the capacity of Beijing rivers to ease pressure on drainage.

As a prominent environmentalist, Ma would prefer to see "greener" drainage system upgrade that utilizes Beijing's natural environment.

"Large parts of Beijing are covered by solid earth, which struggle to absorb water and can lead to flooding," he said.

"But Beijing's supply of underground water is being overused. It would be better if this water could be used to replenish Beijing's underground water supply. Water is a precious resource, and it shouldn't be allowed to flow away."