On the afternoon of July 31st, the Beijing authorities claimed that as of 12:00 on July 31st, heavy rain in Beijing had led to a total of 44 deaths and 9 missing persons due to the disaster. However, there are doubts from the public about the official concealment of casualties, saying that no one believes. It is also criticized that the Chinese Communist Party did not actively participate in the rescue operation and tightly controlled information about the disaster, leaving the public mainly relying on self-rescue.
At a press conference held in the afternoon of July 31st, the Deputy Mayor of Beijing, Huo Linmao, briefed on the disaster in Beijing. He stated that the city experienced extreme heavy rainfall, with sudden mountain torrents in four northern mountainous areas including Miyun, Huairou, Pinggu, and Yanqing, causing significant casualties and property losses. As of 12:00 on July 31st, the city reported 44 deaths and 9 missing persons due to the disaster, with 31 deaths occurring in the Miyun Taishitun Town Elderly Care Center. Rescue operations are still underway.
However, officials did not mention how many reservoirs in Beijing overflowed on the same day, leading to landslides in many towns and villages in the mountainous areas, roads being washed away, bridges being destroyed, houses and vehicles being swept away, and even five mudslides occurring near villages.
According to reports from various Chinese media outlets on the 27th, at least 10 reservoirs, including the Miyun Reservoir, overflowed on that day: the Qinglong Gorge Reservoir at the border of Miyun and Huairou overflowed; three reservoirs in Huairou overflowed, including the Huairou Reservoir, Beitaishang Reservoir, and Dashuyu Reservoir; and five reservoirs in Pinggu overflowed, including Hai Zi, Xi Yu, Huang Yu, Yangjiatai, and Huayu Reservoirs.
Local sources in Beijing revealed on social media that in the northeastern part of Miyun District, near the border with Xinglong County, Hebei Province, there is a Huangyankou Reservoir. The dam of the reservoir has been neglected for years and was bound to collapse sooner or later. The villagers in the vicinity should have been relocated to Beizhuang, but it did not happen, resulting in houses of local villagers near the reservoir being washed away and people going missing.
Official reports stated that 31 people died in the Miyun Taishitun Town Elderly Care Center.
A Beijing resident, Ms. Li, who has contacts with an orphanage in Beijing due to work, disclosed to reporters that she saw on social media that not only the elderly care center but also several orphanages were completely washed away. She stated, “The elderly care center is only what they reported, but there are several orphanages there that are unreported, and their internal conversations are forbidden to be shared.”
Ms. Li further explained, “The most affected are the locals, for example, in Miyun there are many homestays and tourism-related businesses, serving visitors during the May Day and National Day holidays, as well as locals engaged in farming and business. They have been severely affected, with virtually everything washed away.”
Regarding the officially announced casualty figures, a mainland lawyer interviewed by reporters expressed disbelief, saying, “Not only do I not believe it, but many Chinese probably don’t believe it either. When there was the 7.20 incident in Zhengzhou, they claimed only a few people died, but in reality, when Li Keqiang came, it was discovered that about 300 people died. The actual death toll is far higher than the official figures.”
Media personnel Ms. Wang also mentioned that the actual number of fatalities is being concealed by the Chinese Communist Party.
Three days ago, the CCP official media claimed that more than 1,200 soldiers from the Beijing Garrison were sent to the scene for rescue operations.
Ms. Li stated, “The authorities definitely report positive news and downplay the negatives, saying ‘we are carrying out rescue operations,’ but in reality, just look at the situation in Xiong’an last year; it was all about residents helping themselves.”
Ms. Wang, a Beijing media person, stated to reporters that she saw many videos on social media, believing that “the CCP is not genuinely involved in the rescue operations now; it all comes down to people helping themselves. If they can run out, they do, otherwise, they get trapped in the floodwaters.”
She contrasted, “Xi Jinping has never appeared at the disaster relief site, nor does he allow other leaders to go. During the pandemic, when Xi Jinping went to inspect the hard-hit areas, in Wuhan, he met with medical workers through a large screen from a considerable distance, revealing the lack of empathy he has displayed in various natural disasters and virus outbreaks.”
Ms. Wang also recalled the severe flooding in Zhuozhou last year to protect the new Xiong’an district, stating there were many reports at that time. She mentioned, “I could still see reports on the internet back then. Now, everything is censored online, as I don’t have self-media, and domestically, there is nothing available, no means of communication. I can’t find anything online, as everything is being wiped out.”
Further elaborating, she said, “If someone posts a video, (the authorities say it is) AI-generated, and now they release reports on that. I can only say that the current government lacks humanity, has never been good at disaster relief, letting natural disasters ravage at will, and even opening the gates to release water to protect reservoirs.”
She added, “This year, due to exceptionally heavy summer rains from the 24th to the 29th, it rained for five days originally (officials) stated four days, claiming that the rainfall in four days exceeded the annual rainfall in Beijing. Whether this is true or not, in the face of such serious disasters, at yesterday’s political meeting, they didn’t even mention the disaster once.”
Ms. Li believes that such disasters in China will undoubtedly become more severe in the future, but the authorities will continue to downplay their severity.
She emphasized that during the current disaster, officials are passing the buck to each other, asserting, “If you want to blame the meteorological department, the department has issued continuous yellow and red alerts for half a month, flooding mobile phones every day, but why weren’t there any plans for the reservoirs? Why have they not promptly addressed these issues from the past until now?”
This massive flood in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, to protect Beijing, has also caused severe flooding in Hebei Province. A resident from Hebei revealed, “A friend of mine is in Chengde. There are several reservoirs in their village, which are usually not allowed to release water unless residents pay for it. During heavy rain, the reservoirs start to overflow.”
According to Xinhua News Agency, some villages in Liu Daohe Town of Xinglong County, Hebei Province, were severely affected by heavy rainfall, resulting in 8 deaths and 18 missing persons.
However, according to mainland volunteers, as of 8:30 p.m. on July 30th, another village in Xinglong County, Douziyu Township, is currently in a state of being cut off from communication, with no signals from the town government departments.
Public records show that Douziyu Township is located in the southwest of Xinglong County, at the junction of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, adjacent to Pinggu District of Beijing and Jizhou District of Tianjin, being one of the border areas between Beijing and Tianjin. It comprises seven administrative villages, including Shuichang Village, Longmen Village, Qianganjian Village, Tizi Valley Village, with a total population of about 6,916 people, 2,552 households, mainly engaged in forestry and fruit industry, iron ore mining, etc.
Due to the lack of communication, signals, and power in the entire township, the casualties and situation there remain unknown. The neighboring Pinggu District is one of the worst-hit flood areas in Beijing, while Jizhou District is experiencing severe flooding in Tianjin, described by state media as the worst flood in 70 years.