The flooding comes amid the typhoon season battering parts of East Asia.
The areas threatened include the capital Beijing where at least 20 people were reported killed in the outer suburbs and another 27 were missing following weekend storms that quickly overwhelmed drainage systems.
Entire villages were evacuated in the province of Heilongjiang to the north in anticipation of life-threatening deluges.
The nearby cities of Tianjin and Zhuozhou were also hit hard. Fire services aided by volunteer rescue groups searched apartment buildings and railway tunnels for stranded people, bringing hundreds to safety.
President Xi Jinping issued an order for local governments to go “all out” to rescue those trapped and minimize loss of life and property damage.
