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BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Gao Yu planned to take the train from Beijing to Tangshan in north China's Hebei Province on Wednesday morning. But when she arrived at Beijing West Railway Station, she found her train was among many that had been delayed due to heavy rain.
"We were told to wait until further notice," she said. As people gathered in the station waiting room, rain leaking in through its roof, more trains were canceled.
Beijing has been hit by a heavy rainfall rarely seen in years on Wednesday, with traffic on the rails, roads and in the skies disrupted.
The capital raised its storm alert to orange, the second-highest of China's four-tier warning system, as the city's meteorological station forecast that the rain would continue until Wednesday night.
After a quick lunch, Gao returned to find station information screens largely lit up red, indicating changes to train services. A member of staff told her that the train was likely to be delayed till the evening.
While Gao waited, Wang Hui was checking for tickets for tomorrow. His train to Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province, was canceled. In fact, all high-speed trains to Taiyuan, which has been deluged with rain for two days, were stopped on Wednesday.
At first, Beijing West Railway Station broadcasted that passengers could return their tickets at the station and get a refund. However, due to the large number of stranded passengers, this service was temporarily stopped, and people were advised to apply for refunds later.
According to the Beijing Railway Bureau, at least 60 trains from the city have been canceled since 6 p.m. on Tuesday due to the rain and wind, while at least 13 more trains have had to return to their point of departure.
Meanwhile, a total of 237 flights had been canceled at Beijing International Airport by 8 p.m.
As of 2:30 p.m., 164 buses had either suspended their services or skipped stops. Several subway stations have also seen waterlogging on platforms.
In the nearby province of Hebei, heavy rain has killed at least one person and left 34 other missing.
The provincial meteorological bureau issued a red weather alert on Wednesday morning, forecasting that heavy rain would continue for hours.
In Tianjin, the rain had also caused the cancellation of 189 flights by 4 p.m.
As of 2:30 p.m., cumulative precipitation in the downtown area of Tianjin reached 201.35 mm with a maximum of 359.1 mm.
Besides Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin, torrential rain has also been forecast for parts of Liaoning, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan and Yunnan from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon, with rainfall of up to 240 mm in some places.
The National Meteorological Center advised people living in the affected areas to prepare for possible floods, landslides and mud and rock flows, and those that live in mountainous areas to move to safe places.
China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
