China’s Heaviest Rain in 140 Years Claims 20 Lives as Martyr’s Status Awarded

China’s government has awarded martyr status to firefighter Feng Zhen, who died trying to rescue people trapped by heavy flooding in Beijing and its surrounding areas. The city has been pummelled by the heaviest rain in at least 140 years, with the average rainfall for the entire month of July dumped on the capital in just 40 hours. Heavy rains have been pounding the city and surrounding areas since Saturday, causing widespread damage and disruption.

Feng, a firefighter in Beijing’s Haidian district, was washed away by floodwaters as he tried to rescue three people from a school building on Monday. miraculously, the people escaped the area safely, but Feng received medical treatment and later died. The state media described his death as a “heroic” one.

The extreme weather has claimed the lives of 20 people in Beijing, with a further nine deaths reported in neighboring Hebei province. The country is now on alert for the arrival of typhoon Khanun, the sixth such storm of the year, as it nears China’s east coast.

The heavy rainfall has also caused significant damage to the ancient drainage systems of the Forbidden City, the imperial complex in the heart of Beijing. Pictures and videos posted online showed the palace courtyards flooded as rainfall gushed through the 600-year-old gutters.

The extreme weather comes as China denies accusations that it had undermined key climate talks with other countries. The country’s foreign ministry denied reports that it obstructed discussions on tackling climate change at G20 meetings in India last week, calling the accusations “completely inconsistent with the facts.”

China has pledged to bring its emissions to a peak before the end of the decade and become carbon-neutral by 2060. However, despite building record levels of new clean energy capacity, its fossil fuel consumption has continued to rise. Last year, local governments approved new coal power at the highest rate since 2015, and there are no plans to start cutting coal use until 2026.

Scientists say that the extreme weather that China has been experiencing, including record temperatures this summer, is being exacerbated by the climate crisis. The heavy rain is the latest bout of extreme weather from around the world to raise fears about the pace of global heating.