moondog

MrHalliday

nice !!

I assume this is the story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...86L01C20120722

anacapamalibu

Superstition or mother nature flushing
the toilet?

moondog

"However, the subway system was largely unaffected, aside from being swamped with people desperate to get home and unable to use cars, buses or taxis."

I was way out west during the storm (I want to say "brunt of the storm", but this would be inaccurate because it lasted for ~10 hours). I endured it for one hour before deciding to jump on a bus that was headed east. Sadly, that bus turned south. So, I disembarked at the next stop.

I was prepared to pay as much as y300 in order to return to the civilized side of Beijing. Magically, a 黑车 appeared, and I nearly threw myself in front of his car. He quoted me y70, which I accepted in a heartbeat (this is only a y15 premium over a taxi).

Upon my return, I took a shower wearing all of my clothes/shoes (one needs to assume that the ground water is toxic).

minhaoxue

They said it was the worst torrential rainstorm in Beijing in at least 60 years.
I was on a flight from SHA-PEK that was to depart at 1PM. We were delayed for about 45 minutes and finally departed for PEK. The turbulence was pretty strong on decent into PEK and then came the dreaded announcement that we were diverting to Shenyang, about an hour N.West. Upon landing, we were guided to a remote stand where I saw a LH A340 and Air Koryo IL62, also diversions. We were only on the ground for less than an hour then took off for PEK.

The flight to PEK was quite rough. When we landed we were directed to a remote stand.This was bad because when they opened the door, the rain was literally coming down like someone turned on a faucet. The bus to the terminal was not next to the aircraft and we had to run about 200 yrs. Granted it was still about 72F outside.

My drives was waiting for me and we took the usual route to the Chaoyang area where my apartment is. The highway was flooded and the cars were only doing about 30MPH. Then we exited the 4th ring road and the shock hit, grid lock traffic. No one was going anywhere. We got as close to my apartment on Guangju road. I then told him I would walk the rest of the way. I first noticed the water on the street was pretty heavy. As I walked on, especially to cross an intersection, it got as deep as two feet. I was following some people, as I thought they knew where an open road was. I walked upon a construction site as far as we could go but the water was getting too high. The street was completely under water with at least half dozen cars stuck up to the roof lines.

I back tracked to where I began and walked along the side road past Parkson shopping mall. The back road to my apartment building was not too bad except for the line of cars stuck. Finally made it home about three hours later.

was watching the local news and they reported up to ten deaths. One person died along the road I was walking by falling down an open man cover in the street.

Needless to say, lots of people angry at the local government for not providing police and services to the affected areas.

https://www.bobbysjokes.com/p/sZsi9X...vCmAf4mB4LWt8H

jiejie

Yep, a humdinger of a rainstorm, and unusually long and heavy. Cancelled all my plans and just hunkered down at home for the most part, thankful to not have to be out in it nor look for a taxi. Really felt sorry for people trying to get in/out of PEK, especially after 5 pm.

Walking through flooded streets is a particularly bad idea with open manholes, etc. Best to just stay put if you can't get a vehicle or on a bus.

moondog

Looking on the bright side (in the literal sense), today's skies are the clearest I've seen them since the Clinton visit in ~98.

mosburger

One reason for the devastating effects of rainfall in China are the poorly constructed rainwater sewage installations on streets and roads. If they are not missing completely that is.

Construction workers are lacking even basic vocational skills and the supervisors do not seem to care either. So sewage drainages get built on hilltops or other idiotic locations or then left out to save money. The local authorities can always be paid off.

everdown

Unwilling to risk my life swimming through the chemical river running down ring road three, or the hole-y sidewalks, and unable to get any kind of taxi (black or otherwise), I opted to leave the office and go next door to the Sheraton (Great Wall) for a bit of room service and a good book. I'm embarrassed to say which one, but I might if there's enough beer on Tuesday.

Anyway, the clean air was a welcome reimbursement for yesterday's craziness. I even felt so comfortable that I opened both my office and apartment windows for some good, old-fashioned ventilation.

MatthewClement

I got stuck for nearly four hours on the runway at PEK trying to get out yesterday. Enormous backlog due to limited visibility around 11am, then due to deteriorating weather conditions later in the afternoon.

We finally made it out just after 3pm. According to the captain, we burned over 10'000 liters of fuel while sitting on the runway, and the two planes behind us had burned too much fuel and had to cancel their flights. Take-off and initial climb was very choppy.

Not a great day to be travelling.

Shimon

Just to clarify this is considered speeding in many parts of China.

Condolences to all those who suffered.

Shimon

Street drainage is really bad in China. I remember being in an area with light rain and the street was flooded due to no drainage. Water was half way to my knees and it was still drizzling!

anacapamalibu

The foreigner is swimming in flood water.

Hope he's got a typhoid vaccine.

Jiatong

It was heavy, the reported total was about 7 inches on day after.

Now , the reports are some areas of BJ , it was 22 inches & death toll updated to 37. some due to electrical issues.

minhaoxue

The " electrical" issues you are speaking of are quite dramatic. Power lines falling into the water filled street where people were wading, electrocuting them.

When I was " mountain climbing" over Construction debri, I was ducking under wires as I watched other people grab ahold of them to push them out of the way.

The "educated" people are quite critical of the local government and how they handled the situation. The others are just going on with their lives as if nothing had happened.