Beijing issues orange alert for heavy rain, train, flights delayed

Updated: 2016-07-20 10:50

By Guo Kai(chinadaily.com.cn)

Tourists visit the Forbidden City in rain in Beijing on July 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Beijing's Meteorological Center raised its yellow alert for heavy rain to orange on Wednesday, advising against nonessential travel and to be wary of landslides in mountainous regions.

The rain will last till late Wednesday night, and some parts of the city will also experience rainstorms, according to the center.

The center issued a blue alert on Tuesday. From 1 am on Tuesday to 8 am on Wednesday, the average precipitation across the city reached 47.3 millimeters, and the urban area recorded the precipitation of 51.0 millimeters, the center said.

Heavy rain has delayed some train service and around 200 flights have been postponed or suspended in Beijing.

The National Meteorological Center raised its storm alert from yellow to orange on Wednesday. China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Downpours will hit Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning, and Yunnan provinces, Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region from 8 am Wednesday to 8 am Thursday.

Hebei, a province around Beijing, issued a red alert for heavy rain on Wednesday, and Tianjin also issued an orange alert.

Heavy rains hit large part of China on Tuesday, and an area of around 635,000 square kilometers covering North China, Central China and East China have seen daily precipitation of more than 50 millimeters.

Some places in Hebei, Henan and Hubei provinces saw precipitation reach 250 millimeters on Tuesday. About 17 counties in Shanxi, Hebei and Hubei provinces recorded highest daily precipitations.

In Linzhou, Henan province, downpours caused 423 millimeters precipitation in six hours from 10 am to 4 pm, and 607 millimeters a day on Tuesday.

Tuesday's heavy rain killed one person and left at least six missing in Cixian county, North China's Hebei province that encircles Beijing, according to local government.

In Central China's Hubei province, heavy rain killed five residents in Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in Hubei to six, according to the provincial bureau of civil affairs. One remains missing.