Beijing plans smooth passage for stormwater

Beijing has upgraded its anti-flooding facilities by clearing rivers and storm channels and expanding pumping capacities in flood-prone underpasses.

Since 2013, Beijing Drainage Group has upgraded the pumping capacities at 43 underpasses in the city's downtown, and work on a further 32 is expected to be completed by the end of the year, allowing the 76 underpasses to drain a combined 718,000 cubic meters per hour, the company said.

The measures have already proved successful in some areas; for example, after a heavy downpour last month there was no severe water buildup at an underpass in the southeastern district of Guangqumen, where a driver drowned in deep floodwater in the wake of a storm on July 21, 2012.