Post by sky on Jul 24, 2012 18:02:13 GMT 12
The deaths of more than three dozen people in Beijing as a result of heavy rains on Saturday have prompted public expressions of grief and anger and led some in China to question how a city lauded for its shiny new infrastructure and rapid modernization could fail so tragically in the face of bad weather.
Urban areas of Beijing were hit with an average of nearly nine inches of rain over 16 hours on Saturday — the heaviest the Chinese capital has seen in six decades, according the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The deluge, which caused more than 31 road cave-ins, led to more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in economic losses, Xinhua quoted Pan Anjun, deputy chief of the Beijing flood control headquarters, as saying. Even more shocking, at least 37 people died in the downpour, according to a statement released Sunday night through the Beijing municipal government’s official account on Sina Corp.’s Weibo microblogging service. Of those, 25 drowned, six were killed as a result of collapsed structures, five were electrocuted and one was struck by lightning, the statement said.
blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/07/23/anger-swells-after-floods-kill-at-least-37-in-beijing/