During the heavy rainfall event in Beijing, data from more than 100 automatic meteorological stations in the city were interrupted because of power or station problems, according to the China Meteorological Administration. It added satellite information and radar detection was used to determine precipitation.
Shao Sun, a climatologist at the University of California, Irvine, said it was the most intense rainfall event northern China had experienced since 1964, surpassing the 2012 flooding that killed 79 people and affected more than 1.6 million.
A flooded river after Typhoon Doksuri brought extreme rainfall to Beijing. Photo: Reuters
Zhang was head of the expert group organised by the State Council to investigate the devastating flooding event in the central city of Zhengzhou in 2021, which left 398 people dead or missing.
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The group’s report, released in January 2022, called for authorities to enhance the integrated management of early warning and response, and improve the capacity of cities to prevent or mitigate disasters.
The issue is set to grow in importance with research suggesting that high-altitude regions are more likely to be hit by extreme rainfall events as a result of global warming.
“It is predicted that extreme precipitation intensity in high-altitude regions will increase at roughly twice the rate of low-altitude regions,” Sun said. “For every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature, extreme precipitation intensity in high-altitude regions is projected to increase by about 15 per cent.”
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His team found in a 2020 study that Beijing was among the six cities in eastern China with the highest level of waterlogging risk.
“The findings emphasised the formidable challenges encountered by cities in northern China owing to deficient drainage systems, limited river networks and inadequate urban green space planning, making them highly vulnerable to severe flooding during unexpectedly heavy rainfall events,” Sun said.
