A heavy thunderstorm hit Beijing yesterday, delaying hundreds of
flights at the Capital International Airport and snarling traffic
across the city.
Early yesterday morning, this summer's heaviest fog settled on
Beijing. At 6 AM, visibility was about 250 meters in urban
areas.
The fog was followed by a severe rainstorm from 9:00 to 10:30
AM, temporarily closing runways at the airport.
By noon, more than 300 scheduled flights had been delayed, China
Central Television reported.
The expressway connecting urban Beijing and the airport was also
affected by the rainstorm, as standing water caused serious traffic
congestion that lasted into the afternoon.
A Beijing resident surnamed Pei was caught in the traffic jam
yesterday afternoon when he went to the airport to see his friends
off.
"We saw cars jammed on the expressway and they did not move at
all," he said. "So we chose another path besides the expressway.
But it, too, was jammed.
"Finally my friends and I took our luggage out of the car and
walked to the airport. It took us more than two hours to cover the
30 kilometers from the hotel to the airport because of the traffic
congestion."
Also because of the heavy storm, flights at seven other airports
in Tianjin, Shenyang, Dalian, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Xi'an and
Chengdu were also delayed.
Many streets and intersections in urban Beijing were flooded
yesterday morning.
Car engines went dead at the Mingguang junction, and traffic
came to a standstill.
By 10:00 AM, some 360 traffic accidents and 160 traffic
congestions had been reported, according to sources with the
Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.
The bureau adopted various measures yesterday morning to direct
traffic.
The eastern section of the Sixth Ring Road was closed early
yesterday morning because of the heavy fog, and local residents
were advised not to drive cars by themselves but to take buses and
subway trains.
No economic losses or casualties were reported in Beijing
yesterday.
Heavy rain over the next three days has been forecast for north
China, including Beijing and Tianjin, northwest China, northeast
China and areas along the Yellow and the Huaihe rivers.
(China Daily August 1, 2006)
