As climate change pushes China’s rain belt north, people in areas once thought safe from flooding can no longer afford to be complacent
When I first arrived in Beijing in the summer of 2012, I was greeted with what local authorities called “a historically rare storm”. Trains were late, traffic was congested, basements were flooded and a man driving an SUV drowned in logged water under the Guangqumen Bridge.
The city’s residents were caught off guard. People’s homes in the basements of blocks of flats were flooded, and victims had to camp out on the pavement for days. My colleagues and I waded through ankle-deep mud to interview villagers who had not seen this coming.
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