Beijing takes lesson from fatal downpour

The beginning of the major flood season on Saturday has put Beijing authorities on high alert a year after the deadliest downpour in six decades killed 77 people. The weather bureau has forecast torrential rain in the Chinese capital throughout the coming three weeks. The rains will be a rigorous test for the municipal government, which has been reinforcing the city's flood prevention infrastructure and early warning systems since last July's fatal downpour. "We are making every effort to avoid injuries and drownings of people and vehicles during this year's rainy season," said Pan An'jun, spokesman for the city's flood prevention and drought relief headquarters. The worst downpour to hit Beijing in six decades took heavy tolls, left vehicles submerged and flooded many homes on July 21, 2012, generating economic losses of about 11.6 billion yuan (1.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the process. The chaos triggered public fury at the government's failure to properly respond to the deluge, and it prompted questions over the disparity between the city's faulty drainage system and its gleaming skyscrapers. Over the past year, the government has been working to renovate overpasses, unclog sewers and dredge river channels -- all in a bid to improve the strained drainage system that was widely blamed for the urban waterlogging. To date, workers have completed renovations on 20 overpasses under which floodwater rose to as much as 4 meters during last July's torrential rain, according to a statement the Beijing Water Authority wrote to Xinhua on Friday. As part of the work, new pumping stations have been built alongside the bridges and existing facilities have been upgraded, thus expanding the pumping capacity from 30 cubic meters per second to 57 cubic meters per second, the statement said. Nineteen ponds that can collectively hold 100,000 cubic meters of water have also been built near the overpasses to contain floodwater that can not be pumped away.