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Country soaked in torrential downpour
By Liang Chao (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-04 05:56
Heavy rains lashed huge swathes of the country yesterday, causing widespread
chaos and at least one death in Beijing.
About 20 provinces and municipalities were struck by gale-force winds,
thunderstorms and lightning, the State Meteorological Centre (SMC) said.
One person was killed by lightning in Beijing while in Southwest China's
Chongqing Municipality, heavy rain killed two in Bishan County, and left one
missing.
"The heavens opened over most of China, particularly the northern provinces,
and we have entered a new flood season," He Lifo, a meteorologist with the SMC
said, urging authorities to be fully prepared for the worst.
In the morning, the urban areas of Beijing saw an average of 30 millimetres
of rainfall with the maximum reaching 113 millimetres, local weathermen said.
More than 2,500 policemen were sent onto the capital's streets to ease
traffic jams as rain pelted down during the morning rush-hour the worst
rainstorm the city has encountered this summer.
About 110 incoming and outgoing flights were delayed at Beijing Capital
International Airport, and some were diverted to neighbouring Tianjin
Municipality or Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi Province.
Following the thunderstorm, a flying ban was imposed over Beijing's skies for
half an hour.
Many city dwellers woke in the early hours to the sound of cracking thunder
and streaks of lightning.
Zhang Wei'an, a farmer living in Zhangliaoying Village in Beijing's
northwestern Yanqing County, was struck down by lightning at his house as he was
answering a phone call.
His family rushed him to a nearby hospital but he died there last night.
Lightning also struck 10 tourists seeking shelter from rain in a beacon tower
in Juyong Pass, a scenic spot of the Great Wall in Beijing, but none was
seriously injured.
In East China's Anhui Province, some 300,000 people were affected on Tuesday
when the downpour brought a record 260 millimetres of precipitation in just six
hours to Suzhou, a city north of the Huaihe River, according to reports
yesterday.
The amount of rainfall exceeded 100 millimetres in 10 hydrometric stations
set in cities north of the Huaihe River, Jianghuai Morning Post said.
(China Daily 08/04/2005 page2)
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