No fewer than 33 people have been confirmed dead and 18 missing after a heavy downpour in Beijing, China, which officials say was the heaviest rain on record.
In recent weeks, China’s capital has been pummelling by record downpours, damaging infrastructure, and flooding swaths of the city’s suburbs and surrounding territories.
Officials announced Wednesday that 33 people had perished in recent harsh weather in Beijing, primarily as a result of flooding and building collapses, about three times the number given by officials last Tuesday.
“I would like to express my deep condolences to those who died in the line of duty and the unfortunate victims,” Xia Linmao, Beijing’s vice mayor, told a press conference.
Hundreds of people have died in floods across northern China, with Beijing reporting on Friday that natural disaster were responsible for 147 deaths or disappearances last month.
According to the country’s Ministry of Emergency Management, 142 of those were caused by flooding or geological disasters.
In Hebei province, which borders Beijing, 15 people were confirmed dead and 22 were missing.
