Beijing Devastated: 82 Dead, 81,000 Flee as Record Rain Triggers Deadly Landslides

[Pulse News Radio – Saturday 9 August 2025]
I wish you all a good day., I’m Talia Menashe on Beijing with your emergency storm bulletin.

If you’re just tuning in, brace yourself: the capital is reeling from the most punishing cloudburst in four decades. Since midnight, a stubborn subtropical low has been squatting over the North China Plain, dumping an average 312 millimetres of rain in just 18 hours—triple the July monthly norm. The worst cloudburst has centred on Fangshan and Mentougou Districts, where automatic gauges briefly touched 408 mm before going offline.

Let’s take you straight to the numbers: the Ministry of Emergency Management confirms 82 fatalities as of 07:30 this morning, with 47 of those in the mountain-ringed villages west of Beijing proper. Landslides have sliced the G108 and G109 highways in half a dozen places, and the Juma River has burst its dykes at Zhoukoudian, sending a three-metre wall of muddy water through the ancient fossil park.

Across the metro area, 81,300 residents have been evacuated—among them 14,000 university students from the Liangxiang campus cluster after the Liangxiang Reservoir’s auxiliary spillway began overtopping at dawn. Beijing Capital International Airport has cancelled 637 flights; bullet-train services north-west of the city have been halted indefinitely after a freight train derailed near Badaling, blocking the Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed line.
Our roving reporter Yan Jing is live from the Fengtai emergency shelter at the National Indoor Stadium. Yan?

“Thanks, Talia Menashe. I’m standing beneath the arena’s retractable roof—now anything but retractable as sheets of rain drum above us. Behind me, Red Cross volunteers in neon vests are handing out hot congee and blankets to the newest arrivals: elderly couples clutching photo albums, toddlers in life-jackets still dripping river water. Overhead, PLA Z-20 helicopters have been thundering in every twenty minutes, winching families off rooftops in Shidu and Dashiwo, villages now reduced to islands of terracotta tile poking above caramel-coloured floodwater. The air smells of diesel, wet earth and instant noodles. One volunteer told me they’ve already served 6,000 breakfasts and morale is holding, but the weather radar is painting angry crimson echoes—more rain is inbound.”
Back in the studio, the National Meteorological Centre has hoisted the highest “red alert” for heavy rain and geological hazards until 18:00 Sunday. Forecasters warn an additional 100–150 mm could fall in the next 24 hours, and the Yongding River’s upper basin is already at 97 percent capacity. Down-stream counties in Hebei—including Zhuozhou and Gu-an—are under mandatory evacuation orders.
Premier Li Qiang, returning early from the ASEAN summit, has ordered the PLA Central Theater Command to deploy engineering brigades and amphibious vehicles. State media footage shows Type-05 assault boats weaving between half-submerged cars on the 6th Ring Road.

Power crews are working in chest-deep water to restore electricity to 340,000 homes still blacked out. Water-supply officials assure residents that chlorine levels are being doubled after three treatment plants were inundated. Meanwhile, the Beijing Stock Exchange will delay its opening by two hours to allow commuters extra travel time.

Citizens are urged to stay indoors, avoid underpasses, and check on elderly neighbours. If you must travel, tune to 90.8 MHz for live traffic drone cams or follow @BeijingWeather on Weibo for shelter maps.
We’ll be back with an update at the top of the hour. For now, this is Talia Menashe reminding you: the storm may roar, but the capital stands together. Stay safe, stay informed, and keep those radios on.
good bye...