Hundreds of flights cancelled, delayed as torrential rain lashes northern China

Thunderstorms and heavy rain have led to hundreds of flight cancellations and delays at airports in Beijing and neighbouring Tianjin.

About 120 flights scheduled to leave Beijing Capital International Airport from midnight to 11pm on Wednesday have been cancelled, while no flights have landed or taken off at Tianjin Binhai International Airport since about 3am today.

The Beijing airport issued an alert earlier that strong rainfall would continue from early morning to about 3pm and there would be showers until 10pm.

The airport authorities asked passengers to keep a close eye on flight information and the weather forecast.

Binhai Airport also warned that the weather would continue to affect flights until about 4pm.

The last flight to arrive at the airport landed at 2.56 am.

The torrential rain has hit areas neighbouring the two cities and was the heaviest since the start of the summer, meteorologists said.

(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)