We still don’t have the full picture about the latest Beijing floods

The deadly floods that struck Beijing and surrounding regions this week are the latest stark reminder of China’s increasing exposure to extreme weather.

In the past week at least 40 people have died – 30 of them in the capital – and tens of thousands have been displaced, according to reports by state media.

The disaster was an unsettling echo of the 2023 devastation, when climate-fuelled torrential rains and flooding killed at least 33 people in Beijing and 29 in neighbouring Hebei province.

Flooding has grown increasingly frequent in recent years across China’s typically arid north – a problem intensified by worsening global warming, which some Chinese meteorologists have described as nature’s “revenge” on humanity.

Climate change has clearly intensified the monsoon rains that have wreaked havoc nationwide – from coastal tech hubs to inland regions and the south of the country – submerging towns and farmland across large areas of the country.

Although it has been raining heavily in the region for almost a week, the public did not learn of the “heavy casualties and property losses” that had occurred in Beijing, as well as the provinces of Hebei, Jilin, and Shandong, until the state news agency Xinhua issued a bulletin on Monday night that cited President Xi Jinping’s instructions on tackling the floods.