Heavy rain hit North China’s Tianjin Municipality, causing severe waterlogging in some parts of the city on August 25, 2024. Photo: IC

Shortly after the end of the "dog days" of summer, which concluded on Saturday this year, a heavy downpour struck multiple areas in North China. 

China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a yellow alert for rainstorm and a blue alert for severe convective weather early Monday morning to warn of downpours in multiple areas including North China’s Hebei Province, Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, Central China’s Hubei and Hunan provinces, and East China’s Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces from Monday morning till Tuesday morning. 

Heavy rainstorms swept through the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in North China from Sunday night. Monitoring data show that Hebei was most heavily hit by rain across the country with maximum accumulated precipitation of 298.1 millimeters in 24 hours occurring in Qicun village in Quyang county, Hebei, according to the China Meteorological Administration. 

In Beijing, the heavy rain severely affected the daily commuters during the morning rush hour on Monday. 

Video clips circulating online show that the strong wind turned the pedestrians’ umbrellas inside while major transport arteries became paralyzed by gushing rainwater. 

According to the Beijing Water Authority, between 8 am on Sunday and 9 am on Monday, average rainfall across Beijing amounted to 40.4 millimeters, with the highest amount of 138.9 millimeters recorded at Yongshun Park in Tongzhou district, and 45.7 millimeters in the urban area of the city. 

As of Monday morning, overall water levels in Beijing’s rivers were stable, with no instances of exceeding warning levels. Major water conservancy projects are operating smoothly, safely and normally. 

A total of 3,156 people from Fangshan district, Mentougou district and Changping district have relocated. 

Heavy rain has also been affecting Tianjin since Sunday morning, with some areas recording up to 150 millimeters of precipitation. The city launched the IV-level flood control emergency response on Sunday morning. 

Videos circulating online show that vehicles are running in the waterlogging roads like running in the river. 

Netizens joked that after rainstorms, Tianjin had become the “Venice in the East” with boat transport the easiest way to navigate the city following the heavy rain. 

Global Times