“EXTREMELY DANGEROUS”
In the nearby border area between Beijing and Hebei, vast piles of floating garbage and debris backed up by a bridge were seen by AFP journalists.
A policeman told AFP that the place they were standing on Wednesday had been “extremely dangerous” the previous day.
Elsewhere, a local 71-year-old resident surnamed Li was with her husband looking at a park she is very familiar with, but which now resembled a lake.
“I have never seen anything like this in more than 40 years,” Li told AFP.
Even during the worst rainfalls in Beijing’s history, the area had never seen water flow in until now, said Li.
“We saw people online discussing that the bridge in Liuli River Park was flooded. As we often come here to have fun, we wanted to see it with our own eyes,” she added.
“Usually there is a wooden bridge surrounded by metre-high grass, but now you can’t see the grass anymore as it’s completely flooded,” said Li, pointing to the flooded zone.
In Zhuozhou, rescuers in helmets and red and blue overalls came to the rescue of stranded residents in inflatable boats.
A furniture shop, which usually opens onto a now unrecognisable expressway, was surrounded by water.
In some sections of the road, water levels reached four metres, according to a rescue worker, making it entirely impassable.
Nearby, bare-chested onlookers were waiting for the water to recede so that they could return to their homes.