China upgrades emergency response for flood control in Beijing

The Chinese government on Sunday upgraded emergency response measures in five provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, to guard against floods, as rainstorms swept the country's northern regions.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters raised the emergency response for flooding to Level II in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Henan at 9 a.m. Sunday, following an upgrade to Level III for these five regions and Shandong on Saturday.

China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I being the most urgent response. Five work teams have been dispatched by the headquarters to key areas in the country's north to help with local flood prevention. Heavy downpours have swept parts of north China since Saturday, with some regions seeing maximum hourly precipitation reaching 40 to 90 millimeters. The rain has forced the evacuation of over 20,000 people in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province.