The immense amount of rain Beijing received last week wreaked havoc on the city – and we have the video to prove it. Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms caused all sorts of problems around the capital from mass flight cancelations to severe flooding.
READ MORE: Heavy Rains Severely Impact Beijing's Transportation
However, one part of Beijing that remained relatively unscathed by the flooding was the Forbidden City, The Beijing News reports. It turns out its 600-year-old drainage system does, in fact, withstand the test of time.
On July 20, an orange alert was issued for Beijing as heavy rain pounded the city. At one point last week, the capital recorded roughly 70 millimeters of precipitation in six hours. The storm was regarded by many to be the most severe since the deadly rains that hit Beijing in July of 2012.
However, despite the chaos much of Beijing experienced during the near 30 hours of rain, the Forbidden City appeared virtually unfazed. According to a representative of the Forbidden City, the tourist attraction welcomed 30,000 visitors during last week's storm, a time when many parts of the city were shut down.
Built nearly 600 years ago, the Forbidden City was designed with flooding in mind. The courtyards were designed to be slightly elevated to allow rainwater to runoff into an underground system, which then drains water outside of the city center.
Perhaps the rest of Beijing should take note.
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