Heavy rains and flooding kill at least 34 people in and near Beijing

TAISHITUN, China (AP) — Heavy rains and flooding killed 30 people in Beijing, authorities in the Chinese capital reported on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from the storms in the region to at least 34.

A city government statement said that 28 people had died in its hard-hit Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district as of midnight. Both are outlying parts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown.

More heavy rain fell overnight in the area. More than 80,000 people have been relocated in Beijing, including about 17,000 in Miyun, the statement said.

Reports on Monday said a landslide had killed four people in a rural part of Luanping county in neighboring Hebei province. Eight others were missing. A resident told the state-backed Beijing News that communications were down and he couldn't reach his relatives.

The storms had dropped more than 16 centimeters (6 inches) of rain on average in Beijing by midnight Tuesday, with two towns in Miyun recording 54 centimeters (21 inches) of precipitation, the city said.

Authorities in Miyun released water from a reservoir that was at its highest level since it was built in 1959. Authorities warned people to stay away from rivers downstream as their levels rose and as more heavy rain was forecast.

China’s Premier Li Qiang said Monday that the heavy rain and flooding in Miyun caused “serious casualties,” and called for rescue efforts, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.

The storm knocked out power in more than 130 villages in Beijing, destroyed communication lines and damaged more than 30 sections of road.

Heavy flooding washed away cars and downed power poles in Miyun, which borders Hebei’s Luanping county.

Uprooted trees lay in piles with their bare roots exposed in the town of Taishitun, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of central Beijing. Streets were covered with water, with mud left higher up on the walls of buildings.

“The flood came rushing in, just like that, so fast and suddenly. In no time at all, the place was filling up,” said Zhuang Zhelin, who was clearing mud with his family from their building materials shop.

Next door, Zhuang’s neighbor Wei Zhengming, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, was shoveling mud in his clinic; his feet in slippers were covered in mud.

“It was all water, front and back. I didn’t want to do anything. I just ran upstairs and waited for rescue. I remember thinking, if no one came to get us, we’d be in real trouble,” said Wei.

Beijing authorities launched a top-level emergency response at 8 p.m. Monday, ordering people to stay inside, closing schools, suspending construction work and stopping outdoor tourism and other activities until the response is lifted.

The heaviest rain in Beijing was expected early Tuesday, with rainfall of up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) forecast for some areas.

Another 10,000 people were evacuated from the nearby Jizhou district under the city of Tianjin, Xinhua reported.

The central government said in a statement it had sent 50 million yuan (about $7 million) to Hebei and dispatched a high-level team of emergency responders to help the affected cities, which include Chengde, Baoding and Zhangjiakou.

Beijing and Hebei suffered severe flooding in 2023.

Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang in Taishitun, China, and writers Huizhong Wu in Bangkok and Fu Ting in Washington contributed to this report.

Local residents walks in front of a damaged road littered with broken tree branches after a heavy rains in Taishitun Town, Miyun district on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A man looking at a damaged road littered with broken tree branches after a heavy rains in Taishitun Town, Miyun district on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Water is discharged from Miyun reservoir after continuous rain fall triggers alerts, in Miyun District in north of Beijing on July 27, 2025. (Zhang Chenlin/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers talk to villagers on a road damaged by floodwaters in Miyun District as continuous rain fall triggers alerts, in north of Beijing on July 27, 2025. (Ju Huanzong/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, members of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force clean up silt on a road in Miyun District as continuous rain fall triggers alerts, in north of Beijing on July 27, 2025. (Wang Xiqing/Xinhua via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservative Party, which governed the country from 2010 until it suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat two years ago, was plunged into fresh turmoil Thursday after its leader sacked the man widely seen as her greatest rival for apparently plotting to defect from the party.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a video and statement on X that she sacked the party's justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect" in a way that was “designed to be as damaging as possible” to the party.

Badenoch also ejected Jenrick from the party's ranks in Parliament and suspended his party membership.

“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I,” she said. “They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”

Though Badenoch did not specify which party Jenrick was planning to switch to, Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, said he had “of course” had conversations with him.

In the past 12 months, the Conservatives have suffered a string of defections to Reform UK, including some former Cabinet ministers.

Farage said in a press briefing in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, that coincided with Badenoch's statement that, “hand on heart,” he wasn't about to present Jenrick as the latest Conservative to defect to Reform, an upstart, anti-immigration party.

“I’ll give him a ring this afternoon,” he said. “I might even buy him a pint, you never know.”

The Conservatives are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right. Reform has topped opinion polls for months, trounced the Conservatives in last May’s local elections and has welcomed a stream of defecting Tory members and officials.

Jenrick, who has continued to attract speculation about leadership ambitions despite being beaten in 2024, has appeared more open than Badenoch to the prospect of some sort of deal between the Conservatives and Reform in the run-up to next general election, which has to take place by 2029.

Jenrick has yet to respond to the news of his sacking.

The Conservatives remain the official opposition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour.

Badenoch, a small-state, low-tax advocate, has shifted the Conservatives to the right, announcing policies similar to those of U.S. President Donald Trump, including a promise to deport 150,000 unauthorized immigrants a year.

Her poor poll ratings and lackluster performance in Parliament had stirred speculation that she could be ousted long before the next election.

However, she has been making a better impression in Parliament in recent weeks in a way that appears to have cemented her position as leader.

The party is no stranger to turmoil, having gone through six leaders in the space of 10 years, five of them serving as prime minister. Widespread anger at the way the Conservatives were governing Britain led to their defeat at the general election in July 2024, when they lost around two-thirds of their lawmakers, their worst performance since the party was created nearly 200 years ago.

Reform Party leader Nigel Farage addresses protesters outside the Iranian embassy, in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

Kemi Badenoch with Robert Jenrick before being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Nov. 3, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)