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Seventeen public officials from nine government units have been seriously held accountable following a catastrophic flood that killed 32 people at an elderly care center in Beijing’s Miyun district last summer, according to an official investigation report released on Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
From July 23 to 28, 2025, Beijing experienced continuous heavy rainfall, with Miyun particularly affected by torrential rains and flooding on July 28. This led to the flooding of the Taishitun Township Elderly Care Center, resulting in 32 deaths.
Recently, the State Council executive meeting reviewed and approved the investigation and assessment report on the particularly serious rainstorm and flood disaster at the care center. The investigation determined that the mass casualties were caused by a particularly serious natural disaster. Sustained heavy rainfall in the Qingshui River basin led to overlapping flood peaks in the main and tributary streams, triggering a record-breaking mega-flood that inundated the elderly care center.
The disaster exposed certain problems and deficiencies in the local authorities’ prevention, response, and handling of disasters.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to the incident. General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping issued important instructions, and Premier Li Qiang and other leading officials provided directives. The Ministry of Emergency Management, the Beijing Municipal Government, and Miyun district mobilized national comprehensive fire rescue teams and other rescue forces to actively engage in emergency response and rescue operations.
The investigation team was led by the Ministry of Emergency Management and included officials from the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, China Meteorological Administration, National Fire and Rescue Administration, All-China Federation of Trade Unions, and the Beijing Municipal People’s Government. Authoritative experts in flood control, water conservancy, meteorology, geology, and other fields were also invited to provide technical guidance and professional support.
Through on-site inspections, document reviews, interviews and discussions, inquiries, remote sensing interpretation, simulation modeling, comparative analysis, expert demonstrations, and other methods, the team reconstructed the disaster process, identified the causes of the mass casualties at the elderly care center, examined the performance of duties by relevant local authorities, uncovered problems and deficiencies, summarized lessons learned, and proposed measures and suggestions for improvement.
The investigation determined that the direct causes of the disaster were as follows: The Qingshui River basin experienced prolonged heavy rainfall with high total precipitation and intense short-duration bursts. Flood peaks from the main stream and tributaries overlapped, forming a record-breaking mega-flood. The flood carried large amounts of floating debris, raising water levels, which successively caused river embankments to overtop and breach, and bridges to collapse, sharply increasing flow velocity. Additionally, as Putaoyuan village is located at a river bend, the floodwaters rapidly turned and burst out of the embankment, quickly surging toward the village. This inundated the relatively low-lying elderly care center, resulting in the disaster.
The investigation found that Miyun district and relevant departments and units failed to sufficiently address risks in the coordination of small and medium-sized rivers and localized hotspots. This exposed issues such as inadequate monitoring and early warning of flood conditions, failure to strictly implement embankment inspection and hazard mitigation responsibilities, ineffective initial response to sudden dangers, and insufficient supervision of elderly care services. These problems require serious attention.
In accordance with regulations, 17 public officials from nine government units have been seriously held accountable. Of these, 15 received Party disciplinary and administrative penalties, one was given a reprimand, and one was notified and criticized. The illegal and irregular conduct of the operating entity of the Taishitun Township Elderly Care Center will be punished by the relevant industry regulatory authorities.
The investigation team also summarized five key lessons: Extreme disasters must be addressed with extreme thinking. Precise and efficient forecasting and early warning must be strengthened. Evacuation and risk avoidance must consider multiple factors. Basin-wide floods require coordinated management across the entire watershed. In the face of imminent disaster, actions must be decisive and resolute.
The team also put forward five rectification and prevention measures: Fully tighten and implement political responsibility for flood control and disaster reduction. Make greater efforts in heavy rain and flood monitoring, forecasting, and early warning. Focus on improving disaster defense capabilities in northern regions. Implement detailed flood emergency response measures. Strengthen flood prevention work at special facilities such as elderly care institutions.
Global Times