Beijing officials say a group of older people trapped in a nursing home that flooded were among the dead in powerful storms that lashed the city and neighboring provinces.

Beijing city officials admitted on Thursday they had not been prepared for heavy rains that soaked swathes of the capital, killing 44 people and leaving nine still missing."As of midday on July 31, some 44 people have died and nine are still missing as a result of the disasters across the whole of Beijing,

Days of heavy rain have killed at least 30 people in the norther outskirts of Beijing, state media reported Tuesday.