Inner Mongolia in northern China was hit by heavy rains and floods on July 18. Days of heavy rains led to the collapse of two reservoirs, bridges and national highways were washed away by floods, vehicles were flooded, people were trapped, villages and fields were flooded into a sea, and tens of thousands of people were affected.
According to Reuters and Yahoo News and other media reports, the city of Hulunbeier in Inner Mongolia has been experiencing heavy rainfall since the 17th, with flooding in some parts of the region. Videos uploaded to social media showed that the open spillway Yongan Reservoir and Xinfa Reservoir within the Moli Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner breached one after another on the afternoon of the 18th, with huge amounts of river water pouring down.
The flood destroyed 22 bridges and 124 culverts, 15.6 kilometers of roads and nearly 20,000 meters of road shoulders were flooded or destroyed, nearly 330,000 mu of farmland was flooded and 16,000 people were affected, the report said. There is no news of casualties yet, while the flood waters have receded and the water level in the local river section has returned to normal, and damage estimation and disaster relief are underway.
In addition, according to the Central News Agency, Beijing has also been hit by heavy rains recently, resulting in the collapse of mountainous areas, the rise of rivers, flooding in many parts of the city, some subway stations were temporarily closed due to flooding, and 350 flights were canceled at two international airports. According to statistics, the average amount of rainfall during this year’s flood season in Beijing was 90 percent more than in previous years.
Another report said that many parts of Beijing’s districts such as Changping, Haidian and Yanqing were flooded due to heavy rainfall and a large number of cars were soaked. In addition, the heavy rainfall in a short period of time also flooded many places in Beijing, affecting mass transportation, including the subway, and many subway stations were temporarily suspended for repair due to flooding. Meanwhile, more than 77 trains to and from Beijing were cancelled on the 18th. Beijing public transport stopped running buses on 102 routes.
The Reuters report also said that China has more than 98,000 reservoirs for flood management, power generation or to facilitate water transportation. However, the Ministry of Water Resources admits that more than 80 percent of the reservoirs were built 40 years ago, and some of them have safety hazards. Wei Shanzhong, vice minister of water resources, said at a briefing this year that nearly a third of the reservoirs have not completed mandatory safety assessments due to a lack of financial resources.
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