北京61年来最大暴雨造成37人遇难 25人系溺水身亡

The 20-hour storm that hit Beijing on Saturday claimed the lives of 37 people — 25 of the deaths were caused by drowning.

周六袭击北京20个小时的暴雨夺走了37条生命，其中25人溺水身亡。

Millions of people across the capital were hit by the deluge and thousands were evacuated from their homes. The flooding caused losses of at least 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), according to the Beijing municipal government.

北京数百万居民受灾，数以千计的居民被迫从家中疏散。根据北京市政府的统计数据，暴雨引发的洪水造成了至少100亿人民币的损失。

The southwestern district of Fangshan was the hardest hit. Of the 56,933 people evacuated in the city, 20,990 came from Fangshan. There were two landslides in the district.

北京市西南部的房山区受灾最重。在全北京56933名被疏散的居民中，20990人来自房山区。有两起暴雨引发的滑坡也发生在这一地区。

The rainfall reached 460 millimeters in the district, the highest ever recorded, according to the government. In the rest of Beijing, the average was 170 mm, the highest since 1951.

房山区的降雨量达到了460毫米，是有历史记录以来的最高值。在北京的其他地区，平均降雨量也有170毫米，是自1951来的历史最高。

The Juma River, which runs across Fangshan, flooded and its maximum volume reached 2,500 cubic meters per second, a flow rate "rarely recorded", according to the Beijing government.

流经房山区的拒马河因暴雨引发洪水，最高径流量达到了每秒2500立方米的罕见数值。

Few Fangshan residents were prepared for the downpour, which occurred almost without warning.

房山区的居民几乎对这场暴雨毫无防备，事先也没有预警。

Guo Yanwei, a 25-year-old who works at the Changkuang coal mine in Fangshan, was holding a party for eight people at her home.

25岁的郭颜薇（音译）在房山区的一个煤矿工作，21日在家中和朋友聚会。

At 5:30 pm, she became aware that the water had reached her doorstep. Just 10 minutes later, the floodwaters had reached a depth of 1.3 meters.

下午5：30，她突然发现门外的积水已经达到她门前的台阶处。仅仅10分钟后，洪水就达到了1.3米深。

"I noticed the weather forecast on Friday, but we did not know the rain would be so overwhelming and flood my home so quickly," she said. Guo's sister carried her son to the second floor of an adjacent building. Guo and her friends climbed onto the roof of her house.

她说：“我注意到了周五的天气预报，但是我没有想到暴雨会这么猛烈地，会这么快就淹没我的家。”郭的姐姐带着她的孩子到邻近的一栋房子的二楼躲避，郭和她的朋友们爬上了她房子的屋顶。

Soon, all 50 residents of Guo's village had scrambled onto their roofs in search of temporary safety. Two people shared one umbrella in the forlorn hope of avoiding the unstoppable rain. Some residents tried to climb over the wall that surrounds the neighborhood, but the floodwater was so powerful that some parts of the wall looked as if they were about to collapse and could not support them. The residents stayed on the roofs.

很快，郭所在村子的所有50名居民都爬上了屋顶暂时避难，有两个人合撑一把伞希望能躲避不停地暴雨。有些居民试图爬到附近的围墙上去，但洪水非常汹涌，一些围墙看起来即将倒塌，不足以承受人的重量。

Most of the residents work at the coal mine. They called the mine administrators for help and at around 10 pm a rescue team was sent to the neighborhood to provide help for the women and children.

这个村子的大多数居民都在煤矿工作。他们向煤矿管理层呼救，大多晚上10点一支救援队来到这里向妇女和孩子提供帮助。

"We left the neighborhood barefooted, because the flood brought so much mud that our shoes got stuck," said Guo Yanwei. Electrical items such as computers, refrigerators and air conditioners were destroyed by the flood. "I only managed to grab an expensive camera that I bought recently.

郭小姐说：“我们赤脚离开了社区，因为洪水带来了太多泥沙我们的鞋子都被牢牢黏住了。”电脑、冰箱、空调等电器都被洪水摧毁。“我只带出来了我最近刚买的一台挺贵的相机。”

The neighborhood was still a mess on Sunday morning, according to Guo. Five cars floated in the waters, and most of the residents were given shelter in a meeting hall at the mine.

郭小姐说，社区在周日早上仍是一片狼藉。五辆汽车漂浮在水中，大部分居民临时安置在煤矿的会议礼堂中。

"Underprivileged people like us are always at great risk when faced with natural disasters," said Guo Yanwei. "So we need more help from the government."

郭小姐说：“像我们这样的穷人，在面对自然灾害时总冒着巨大的风险。所以我们需要更多政府的帮助。”

Meanwhile, Li Minying and her family, also in Fangshan district, were lucky. The flood smashed the water pipes, but on Sunday morning the district government began providing drinking water for the 50 households in Xixinfang neighborhood. At least clean drinking water is no longer a concern for the families.

与此同时，同样住在房山区的李民英和她的家庭要幸运一些。洪水摧毁了自来水管道，但周日早上，房山区政府就开始向西辛房村社区的50个家庭提供饮用水。至少干净的饮用水不再是这些家庭担忧的事情了。