A massive downpour, the worst to hit the city in 61 years, battered Beijing last Saturday, leaving 77 people dead and causing significant damage.

Many citizens are questioning the city's early warning system as only a few received text messages warning them of the rain. Beijing Meteorological Bureau says it will upgrade its early warning system within three years to ensure speedier access to alerts about extreme conditions.

The heaviest rain in 6 decades overwhelmed Beijing's drainage system, submerging cars, homes and provoking questions over the city's lack of readiness.

A Beijing resident said, "I didn't receive any message about the rain and I got soaked wet. I hope the city can improve its warning system."

According to Beijing Meteorological Bureau, at most 400 early warning text messages can be sent in one second, but the number of base stations for sending messages is limited. It would take 13 hours for every resident to receive a message. And last Saturday, the Bureau only managed to send out 1.4 million texts, to the city's huge population.

Beijing has around 20 million residents. The weather forecasters say that from July to September this city is prone to heavy rain and flooding, and there could be further storms or extreme weather down the road. So it may take more than text messaging to ensure effective early warning.

And this is what Beijing Meteorological Bureau is working on. They are planning to upgrade the warning system using multiple channels.

Ding Deping, director of Beijing Meteorologival Bureau, said, "We are now working to incorporate mobile television for public transport such as buses and the subway into the system. Meanwhile, we will expand our network to more rural areas."

In addition, the bureau will also streamline the process for issuing warnings to make it more efficient.

Ding Deping said, "Right now we are sending faxes to television stations for them to put out subtitles. In the future, we will put subtitles directly onto the broadcasting system."

The Beijing city government says on its website it is working to get the metropolis back on its feet, but reminds people to prepare for further bad weather.

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