Update: As of July 31, state broadcaster CCTV reported the death toll from Beijing’s floods has risen to 44, with nine people still missing and 24,000 houses damaged.

Miyun District Party Secretary Yu Weiguo said 37 deaths occurred in the district, including 31 at a single nursing home. Previous reports said 48 people had been evacuated from the facility, which housed 69 elderly residents — most with limited or no mobility — along with staff.

Despite round-the-clock rescue efforts by local firefighters, several elderly residents were later confirmed dead. Yu said the nursing home’s location, in the center of the town, had long been considered safe and was not included in the evacuation plan. “This reveals flaws in our contingency planning and reflects our inadequate understanding of extreme weather,” he told CCTV.

At least 30 people are dead and more than 80,000 evacuated after record rainfall swept across Beijing’s mountainous outskirts since Saturday, triggering landslides, flooding villages, and cutting off entire districts.

The deluge prompted the highest-level emergency alerts, widespread infrastructure shutdowns, and mass rescues, with authorities yet to disclose how many remain missing.

The storm struck Beijing’s northern districts Saturday, with Miyun, Huairou, and Yanqing bearing the brunt. The worst-hit districts, all in the capital’s designated “backyard garden” conservation zone, saw tourist guesthouses emptied or destroyed and entire villages cut off.

The northeast Miyun District, home to more than 600 residents aged over 90, and over 30 registered elder care facilities, was most impacted. On Saturday night, it was the first to issue a localized red alert for heavy rain. Authorities have confirmed 28 deaths, with 16,934 residents evacuated from 19 towns.

On Monday, President Xi Jinping announced “all-out efforts” to locate and rescue those missing or trapped, directing officials to take “full political responsibility” for safeguarding lives and property.

Premier Li Qiang said the torrential rain and flooding in Beijing’s Miyun District had caused “significant casualties,” and called for stronger weather monitoring, risk inspections, and timely evacuations.

By Tuesday afternoon, Beijing removed its rain alert, though authorities warned the flood season, which began earlier than usual, is likely to bring more severe weather in the coming months.

Domestic media reported that floodwaters trapped Miyun residents at a local nursing home, including at least four with limited mobility. Rescuers worked for six hours to move them to safety, evacuating 48 people in total.

As of Tuesday, 21 major roads to the worst-hit towns remain blocked, including those leading to the Miyun nursing home. Power is still out in 136 villages, and large areas remain cut off from the internet and mobile networks, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.

In neighboring Huairou District, a valley recorded the storm’s most extreme downpour: 95.3 millimeters of rain in one hour.

“Generally, hourly rainfall above 60 millimeters is considered extreme. Anything over 90 millimeters is exceptionally rare,” Lei Lei, chief forecaster at the Beijing Meteorological Service, told domestic media.

Lei said the extreme precipitation came from two overlapping mechanisms — warm, moist air from the southwest rising over the Yan Mountains to Beijing’s north, and a persistent upper-level air current repeatedly steering rainbands over the same areas.

To prevent dam failure, the Miyun Reservoir began releasing water at 3 a.m. Sunday after recording an inflow of 6,550 cubic meters per second, its highest since construction in 1959. Sixteen other reservoirs in surrounding districts also opened their floodgates, according to domestic media.

In 2023, a similar deluge, fueled by back-to-back typhoons, brought Beijing its deadliest flooding in more than a decade. Record rainfall then inundated outer districts, killed at least 33 people, and forced over 100,000 evacuations.

This year, China entered its flood season earlier than usual, with experts warning 2025 could bring more severe weather.

Since late June, northern areas have seen a string of record-breaking rainstorms, with at least 13 national-level weather stations logging all-time highs. Starting July 26, six rivers across Beijing, Hebei, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Shanxi recorded their largest floods on record.

In Shanxi province, a minibus carrying migrant workers to a chili-picking job was swept into a river on Sunday, leaving 13 missing and one confirmed dead. A rain-triggered landslide in Hebei the following day killed four and left eight missing.

Additional reporting: Yang Xinrui; editor: Apurva.

(Header image: A woman walks past damaged cars in a flooded neighborhood in Miyun District, Beijing, July 29, 2025. Adek Berry/VCG)