Rainstorm hits Beijing, 2 killed by thunder strike

Two people found dead on a rain-soaked road in Beijing Sunday night are suspected to have been killed by lightning, as the heaviest rainstorm in 13 years pounded the city from Sunday through Monday morning and is expected to linger into Monday evening.

The victims, a man and a woman, were found dead on a road outside a plant in Nancai Industrial Park in Shunyi District at 9 p.m. Sunday, said a spokesman with the district government on Monday.

The northern district of Miyun recorded precipitation of 243 mm in 22 hours before 6 a.m. Monday, said Wei Jianmin, chief forecaster of the Beijing Observatory.

He said the rain is important to replenish Beijing's primary water source of the Miyun Reservoir, which has received 17 million cubic meters of water during the rain so far.

Although the rain had little effect on traffic Monday, it caused a disturbance in the city's busy air traffic. According to Beijing Capital International Airport's website, 329 flights were canceled due to the rainstorm.

Meanwhile, traffic on a rail link between Beijing and Chengde City in neighboring Hebei Province was suspended after several sections of the track were submerged in rainwater Sunday night.

Workers are still rushing to clear the railway.

The city mobilized Sunday evening to take precautions against rainstorm-triggered disasters.

More than 6,000 residents living in the hilly regions of Miyun and Pinggu districts in Beijing's outskirts were evacuated to safe grounds Sunday evening before floods inundated more than 10 villages and triggered four landslides there.

The China National Meteorological Center on Monday morning continued a rainstorm alert, forecasting rains to hit Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Liaoning and Hebei provinces in the north, as well as eastern Shandong and Jiangsu provinces in the next 24 hours.

A sudden rainstorm in Xingshan County, central Hubei Province, on Sunday night injured nine people and caused a blackout and disrupted traffic. The rainstorm only lasted 12 minutes but damaged 649 houses as well as roads, bridges and power facilities.