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The 20-hour storm that hit Beijing on Saturday claimed the lives of 37 people - 25 of the deaths were caused by drowning.

Millions of people across the capital were hit by the deluge and thousands were evacuated from their homes. The deluge caused losses of at least 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), according to the Beijing municipal government.

The southwestern district of Fangshan was the hardest hit. Of the 56,933 people evacuated in the city, 20,990 came from Fangshan. There were two landslides in the district.

The rainfall reached 460 millimeters in the district, the highest ever recorded, according to the government.

In the rest of Beijing, the average was 170 mm, the highest since 1951.

The Juma River, which runs across Fangshan, flooded and its maximum volume reached 2,500 cubic meters per second, a flow rate "rarely recorded", according to the Beijing government.

Few Fangshan residents were prepared for the downpour, which occurred almost without warning.

Guo Yanwei, a 25-year-old who works at the Changkuang coal mine in Fangshan, was holding a party for eight people at her home.

At 5:30 pm, she became aware that the water had reached her doorstep. Just 10 minutes later, the floodwaters had reached a depth of 1.3 meters.

"I noticed the weather forecast on Friday, but we did not know the rain would be so overwhelming and flood my home so quickly," she said.

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