BEIJING (CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Strong winds and heavy rainfall hit Beijing on Sunday (May 26) morning, causing more than 100 flights to be cancelled and delays for dozens of trains.
The capital's meteorological bureau on Saturday afternoon issued a yellow alert for lightning expected in the city from 2am Sunday until 2pm in the afternoon. It also warned that some areas might face gusts of wind gusts and hail.
Beijing Capital International Airport by 12pm on Sunday had cancelled 111 out of 436 scheduled flights.
In response to Straits Times' queries, Singapore Airlines said flights from SIA still went out to Beijing on schedule, except for one that was delayed for a couple of hours, adding that no cancellations or delays were expected.
"Singapore Airlines can confirm that we operated three flights to and from Beijing on 26 May 2019. All flights departed on schedule with the exception of SQ805, which departed Beijing with a delay of 2 hours and 27 minutes due to poor weather conditions," an SIA spokesperson said.
"All three Singapore Airlines flights to and from Beijing on 27 May 2019 are planned to operate as scheduled."
Meanwhile, a China Southern Airlines flight scheduled to arrive in Beijing at noon from Guangzhou in Guangdong province found cracks on its windshield due to hail upon landing.
The flight arrived safely with no injuries onboard, said China Southern Airlines.
Railway departments said on Sunday afternoon that they had adopted measures limiting the speeds of some intercity trains between Beijing and Tianjin, while also cancelling a number of services due to strong winds and significant rainfall.
The heavy rainfall and thunderstorms will last until 8pm Sunday, according to the National Meteorological Centre, which issued a blue alert for severe weather on Saturday.
Southwest Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces are also expected to experience the weather in the coming days, along with some provinces in Northeastern China.
China has a four-tier colour coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
