Beijing residents expressed fury on Monday after the worst rains to hit the Chinese capital in more than 60 years left at least 37 people dead, with at least another seven still missing.
Many said lives could have been saved and some of the worst devastation avoided if a better warning system had been in place, and criticised the city’s antiquated water infrastructure.
“If the drainage system had been good, if the warning system had been put in place in a timely manner, if people had been told to stay home, would so many people have lost their cherished lives?” read one posting, under the name Bijiexiang.
By Monday morning, there were nearly nine million comments on the Sina Weibo microblog alone.
In the worst-hit district of Fangshan, on the mountainous southwestern outskirts of China’s sprawling capital, residents described how roads flooded in minutes, submerging vehicles and destroying houses.
Fangshan farmer Wang Ping, 56, was still looking for his 30-year-old son on a lake shore after finding his smashed up car, and complained that the government was doing nothing to help.
“My son called around nine o’clock on Saturday evening and he said he was surrounded by water, so I went to search for him,” Wang told AFP, in between shouting out his name.
“The government isn’t doing anything to help me find my son.”
At least 25 people drowned in Saturday’s rains, the heaviest in the capital since records began in 1951. Six died in housing collapses, five were electrocuted and one person was struck by lighting. The same storm left another 17 people dead and 21 missing in the neighbouring province of Hebei, the China News Service said. The rains and flooding caused 10 billion yuan-worth ($1.6 billion) of damage in Beijing, while nearly 66,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes, state media said, citing the city government.
