Typhoon Haikui inland: Hubei floods, Beijing braces for a third of annual rain

Typhoon Haikui, the strongest to hit China this year, is relentlessly pushing inland, bringing severe flooding to the central Hubei province. The storm system has shown remarkable resilience, making landfall last weekend after traveling nearly 6,000 kilometers and drenching the eastern coast.

Authorities are on high alert, warning of extreme rainfall across vast swathes of the country. Beijing and its surrounding areas are bracing for potentially devastating downpours, with forecasts predicting over a third of the capital's annual rainfall could fall within a single 24-hour period starting Tuesday evening. Hubei, a critical hub for China's automotive and high-tech electronics manufacturing, with a population exceeding 58 million, is already grappling with the aftermath of Typhoon Maysak and two subsequent tornadoes last month, which claimed at least 11 lives.

In Hubei, the impact is stark. Streets are submerged, with pedestrians wading through waist-deep water and electric scooters partially submerged. In Xiangyang city, where floodwaters exceeded 30 centimeters at one intersection, drivers were forced to slow down or turn back. The city's 35 reservoirs have breached flood control limits, prompting the urgent evacuation of 9,705 residents. Many tourist attractions, including the Three Gorges Dam scenic area, have temporarily closed, with nearly all of Xiangyang's 59 major scenic spots shut down.

Construction has also been halted, with 26 out of 107 major road and water projects in Hubei deemed "high risk" suspended. The typhoon's outer bands are interacting with the mountainous terrain in western Hubei, significantly intensifying rainfall. Meanwhile, neighboring Henan province faces its own deluge, with a red alert issued for flash floods as the storm continues to push moisture northward. Forecasters predict some areas could receive up to 350 millimeters of rain by Wednesday afternoon.

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Haikui's outer bands, when encountering the mountainous areas in western Hubei, will be affected by the terrain's uplift effect, leading to a several-fold increase in rainfall intensity.