Rampaging floods killed 31people at a nursing home for elderly persons in Miyun District located on the outskirts of Beijing this week.

Most of the fatalities were senior citizens who were trapped inside the Taishitun Town Elderly Care Center, a 90-minute drive from Central Beijing.

Emergency rescuers were able to save many more residents but a total 44 have succumbed to flood-related incidents, particularly drowning.

Among those who managed to get out from the nursing home was an 87-year-old grandmother.

The senior citizen’s daughter said she was amazed by the way her mother escaped by managing to “climb onto the windowsill.

Information given to the media indicated that 77 elderly citizens and persons with disability were inside the care home when the floods hit, At least 40 of them were unable to swiftly get out when water levels rose to at least six feet.

Located in Taishitun Town, the facility reportedly extends primary care to individuals who are disabled and old but are poor.

“For a long time, the central area of the town where the nursing home is located had been considered safe, so it was not included in the evacuation scope of the plan,” said a Yu Weiguo, Communist Party secretary for Miyun.

He added: “This reveals that there are loopholes in our emergency planning.”