BEIJING: China has enhanced flood monitoring and alert and adopted effective measures to mitigate disasters as the country enters the critical period of flood season in the latter half of July and first half of August.
Li Guoying, minister of water resources, stressed in mid-July the importance of prevention and effective measures, adding that China is estimated to face a relatively large number of extreme weather events this year.
In Beijing, heavy rain lashed the city on Thursday night with maximum precipitation reaching 64.8 millimeters. The city issued four alerts as the rainstorm approached.
Local meteorological authorities have forecasted a 10 to 20 percent rise in rainfall this year compared with an average year during the flood season.
Four to five days of heavy rain is also expected, with daily precipitation above 25 millimeters, and above the annual average of 3.6 days.
The city has designated over 2,500 teams and 170,000 people in flood prevention and control, according to Liu Bin, deputy head of the Beijing Emergency Management Bureau.
The municipal water authority, for the first time, released a digital map showing the risks of waterlogging across the urban areas in July. –Agencies
