HEAVY rains and flooding in northern China killed four people while others remain missing, officials said today.

The victims were caught in a landslide in a rural part of Luanping county in the province of Hebei, which borders the capital, Beijing, according to broadcaster CCTV. 

Eight people remain missing. A local resident told Beijing News that communications were down and he couldn’t reach his relatives.

In Miyun, a suburban part of Beijing, floodwaters swept away parked cars in an apartment complex. 

Officials told the Beijing Daily they had evacuated 4,015 people and that there were no casualties as a water reservoir in the district recorded its highest water level since record-keeping began in 1951.

In Tianjin, some 5,600 people were also evacuated.

The meteorological bureau issued a warning on Monday, saying that some places on the outskirts of Beijing could be hit with up to 9.84 inches of rain in one day.

The central government said it had sent 50 million yuan (about £5m) to Hebei and dispatched a high-level team of emergency responders to aid the affected cities, which include Chengde, Baoding and Zhangjiakou.