Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides that washed away cars, forced evacuations and knocked out power around the Chinese capital, killing at least 38 people by Tuesday and rescue and relief work continued.

The flood risk for parts of Beijing, Hebei province and neighboring Tianjin city remained high until Tuesday evening.

Premier Li Qiang said the heavy rain and flooding in the hard-hit Beijing district of Miyun caused "serious casualties" and called for rescue efforts, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

© Jade Gao/AFP/Getty ImagesAn aerial view shows submerged residential buildings after heavy rains and floods at Taishitun village in Miyun district, on the outskirts of Beijing, China.

The storm knocked out power in more than 130 villages in Beijing, destroyed communication lines and damaged more than 30 sections of road. More than 16 centimeters (6 inches) of rain fell on average in Beijing by midnight, with two towns in Miyun recording 54 centimeters (21 inches) of precipitation, the city said.

Heavy flooding washed away cars and downed power poles in Miyun, an outlying district that borders Hebei's Luanping county. More than 80,000 people have been relocated in Beijing, including about 17,000 in Miyun, a Beijing city statement said.

The city government said 28 people died in Miyun and two others in Yanqing district Monday.

Four additional people in neighboring Hebei province were discovered dead Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported, after eight people were said to be missing after a landslide in a rural part of Luanping county in the province. Authorities had found four of the dead Monday.

Emergency rescue teams said more landslides occurred in the same region Tuesday, although they did not report any further casualties.

Uprooted trees lay in piles in the town of Taishitun, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of central Beijing. Streets were covered with water, with mud left higher up on the walls of buildings.

Extreme weather killed at least 60 people in northern China over the past week, with 31 deaths in an elderly care home in Beijing's hilly Miyun district in one of the deadliest floods to have hit the Chinese capital in years.

In Beijing, 44 people were killed and nine were missing as of midday Thursday, deputy mayor of Beijing, Xia Linmao, said at a press conference.

Heavy rains began a week ago and peaked around Beijing and surrounding provinces on Monday, with Miyun experiencing rainfall of up to 573.5 mm (22.6 inches) - levels local media described as "extremely destructive." The average annual rainfall in Beijing is around 600 mm.

In the nearby province of Hebei, 16 people died as a result of the intense rainfall, authorities said.
At least eight were killed in the city of Chengde just outside Beijing, with 18 unaccounted for.

The deaths occurred in villages within the Xinglong area of Chengde in Hebei province, state-run Xinhua reported late on Wednesday citing local authorities, without specifying when or how the people died.

The deaths in Chengde occurred in villages which border Beijing's Miyun about 25 km (16 miles) from the Miyun reservoir, the largest in China's north.

The reservoir saw record-breaking overall water levels and capacity during the rains which devastated nearby towns.

At its peak on Sunday, up to 6,550 cubic metres of water - about 2.5 Olympic-sized pools' worth - flooded into the reservoir every second.

In another Hebei village north of the reservoir, a landslide on Monday killed eight people, with four missing.

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