The Beijing meteorological center issued a blue alert for rainstorms on Monday night as the capital's areas experienced heavy rains.

The average precipitation in eastern Fangshan district, Daxing and Tongzhou districts and central areas of Beijing were expected to reach 30 mm, said the alert, issued at 7:35 pm.

The center had previously forecast heavy rain in the capital from Monday night to Tuesday.

The Ping'anli Subway Station was closed at 7:50 pm because of heavy rain, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport said on its micro blog.

The commission asked residents to be on guard.

Due to bad weather, 23 flights were delayed and 26 canceled at Beijing Capital International Airport as of 8 pm on Monday .

The capital has been hit by several downpours over the past 10 days, particularly on July 21, when the heaviest rainfall in six decades lashed Beijing, causing 77 deaths.

"As soon as the meteorological center issued the warning we broadcast it to residents," said Zhai Ruisheng, Party chief of Beicheying village in Fangshan district, on Monday, which was worst hit by the deluge on July 21.

"Village officials were also dispatched to inform every household and advise them to go to higher places in case the rainfall got worse."

After the deadly rainstorm on July 21, the local government of Beicheying erected dozens of tents on a school playground to house people whose homes were destroyed in the storm.

"On Sunday, we brought eight more tents for backup," said Gao Zhuang, a village official.

"The village mobilized people to stay alert outside the tents to monitor the rain at night," said Yang Qinglin, a Beicheying villager. Her house was nearly destroyed in a flood caused by rain on July 21.

"If the rain gets too heavy, we will move to the school building behind the tents," she said.

Chinese meteorological authorities use a four-tier color-coded weather warning system of "blue", "yellow", "orange" and "red", with "red" being the most severe.

On Monday, the National Meteorological Center issued a blue alert for a rainstorm. Heavy rain was expected to hit central and southern Shaanxi province, Shanxi province, central and southern Hebei province, central and southern Beijing, Tianjin, western Liaoning, northern Shandong and northern Henan, from 8 pm on Monday to 8 pm on Tuesday, it said.

Flooding caused by the rains has killed 11 people in Yulin, Shaanxi province.

Seven people were killed and three missing in Linxian county, Shanxi province, on Thursday and Friday after torrential rains dropped 197 mm of water within 3 hours.

Zheng Jinran in Beijing and Ma Lie in Xi'an contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at [email protected] and [email protected]