BEIJING: Heavy rain pounded Beijing on Wednesday as the remnants of Typhoon Dolphin swept across northern China, flooding key roads and stranding vehicles after the storm set rainfall records in central and eastern provinces.

The capital declared its second-highest rainstorm warning, suspending 250 bus routes and closing 150 tourist attractions, while 10 subway lines ran at reduced speed, the official Xinhua news agency said. Footage circulating on the Chinese platform Rednote showed a multi-lane roadway turned into a river, with cars and buses partially submerged and traffic at a standstill.

Beijing’s northern Changping district recorded the heaviest hourly rainfall, taking 90.7mm (3.6 inches) in the hour after 9am, authorities said.

Four outlying districts had activated Level I emergency flood responses, with the city bracing for more than a third of its average annual rainfall in 24 hours.Dolphin — the strongest typhoon to hit China this year — made landfall on Sunday in the eastern province of Zhejiang after travelling more than 6,000km (3,700 miles), and has since weakened. But its remnants are drawing tropical moisture deep inland, raising the risk of flooding.

It came ashore near Yuhuan with maximum sustained winds of 151kph (93mph), equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane.

Single-day August rainfall records were broken in the city of Wugang, which received 209.5mm (8.2 inches), and in Xiangyang, which recorded 169.1mm (6.6 inches).

In Henan, Queshan County in Zhumadian recorded the province’s highest 24-hour total at 286.6mm, and nine cities raised their flood-control emergency response to Level III.”The most troublesome part is that it affects work and life,” said Zhao Junxia, a resident of Luohe in Henan, who moved her car two kilometres to higher ground before the rain arrived.

Ahead of landfall, Shanghai evacuated at least 30,300 people and cancelled around 1,400 flights, while Wenzhou in Zhejiang relocated more than 900,000 residents and opened over 1,000 emergency shelters.

A further 390,000 were moved in Taizhou and about 98,900 in Fujian.The world’s second-largest economy is increasingly battling destructive weather that scientists link to climate change, especially this year, as an emerging El Niño pattern boosts temperatures and fuels more frequent and intense typhoons.

On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organization said periods of extreme heat are becoming more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting as the planet warms, as parts of Europe endured a fifth heatwave in a summer of drought, wildfires and record temperatures.

Chinese meteorologists are turning to a new generation of artificial intelligence weather models to supplement traditional forecasting and strengthen resilience to extreme weather, which causes billions of dollars in losses each year through disrupted manufacturing and destroyed crops.