Is historically arid Beijing ready for a wetter future?

During last month’s deadly floods in Beijing, rural hotel owner Cui Jian and his guests spent the night stranded on a rooftop in torrential rain before rescuers battled through meter-high mud and silt to get to them the next day.

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Beijing’s mountainous northern Huairou district and neighboring Miyun district received a year’s worth of rain in a single week, triggering flash floods that devastated entire villages and killed 44 people in the deadliest flood since 2012.

The authorities’ most serious weather warning came too late for most villagers in Huairou, who were already asleep by the time it was issued.

“In the past, they closed scenic areas and campsites, evacuated tourists and relocated villagers. If you warn people in time, good, but if not, it’s a natural disaster,” said Mr. Cui, whose 10 properties in the same Huairou district village, which he had spent 35 million yuan ($4.87 million) renovating, were submerged.

The floods exposed weaknesses in the rural emergency response infrastructure for Beijing, whose urban core is surrounded by several rural districts.

But they also revealed how historically dry Beijing, home to 22 million people, remains insufficiently prepared for what experts say will be an increasingly wet future. The Chinese capital has experienced three deluges since 2012 that forecasters said could only happen once every 100 years, and climate experts warn there is a growing risk of disasters on a previously unthinkable scale.

Chinese experts are increasingly calling for city planners to prioritize “ecological resilience” given the disastrous effects of climate change.

“The current understanding of the climate crisis and its future challenges is insufficient, which naturally leads to insufficient deployment and planning,” said Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.