Beijing battered by rainstorms

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Firefighters search for a submerged car on a main road in Beijing's Guangqumen Bridge area. After locating the car, they and members of the public drag the vehicle to a shallower area, where they smash open the door and reach the driver. The driver was reported to having no vital signs when rescued and was in a critical condition in hospital late last night.

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STORMS that lashed large swathes of northern and southwestern China from Friday night through yesterday have killed at least 14 people, authorities said.

And heavy rains are forecast to continue in China's northern regions and some southern parts over the next three days.

In Beijing, rainstorms and gales that started around 10am yesterday have left at least four people dead and six others injured, police and medical workers said.

Roofs at a construction site in the city's suburban Tongzhou District were blown off by strong winds, crushing five people, sources with the Beijing Emergency Medical Center said. Two people died on the spot, while three were taken to a nearby hospital.

A third person in Tongzhou also died when struck by lightning.

The fourth Beijing victim, the head of a police station in Fangshan District died of an electric shock from a downed electrical cable in water, while rescuing villagers.

In another village in Tongzhou, strong winds blew off roofs, leaving three people injured, sources with the medical center said.

Some 243 flights were cancelled and 272 others delayed for more than an hour as of 6:30pm last night, sources with the Beijing Capital International Airport said.

And a stretch of National Highway 109 was cut off by a rain-triggered landslide in the Mentougou District, said the Beijing flood control and drought relief office.

Rainstorm alert

Beijing received on average 95 millimeters of rain by 7pm yesterday, according to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. It was the heaviest rainstorm to hit the capital city in 60 years.

The agency issued its first orange - the second highest - rainstorm alert warning since 2005 yesterday evening, as the rain is forecast to continue into tonight.

In northern Shanxi Province, four people were killed with one missing yesterday, after the pickup truck in which they were traveling was carried into the middle of a rain-swollen river in the city of Shuozhou. It had been attempting to cross the river, rescuers said.

In southwestern Sichuan Province, six people were killed in rain-triggered landslides in Weiyuan County, according to the provincial flood control headquarters.

And more than 400 vehicles are stranded following rain-triggered mudslides that cut off sections of National Highway 314 in the Kirgiz autonomous prefecture of Kizilsu, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, police said yesterday.

Heavy rains will sweep China's northern regions and some southern areas over the next three days, the National Meteorological Center forecast yesterday.

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