Thousands of people are battling floods in Central China as the
water levels of rivers continue to rise.
Wuhan, capital city of Hubei Province, has ordered authorities
to step up surveillance along the banks and sluice gates of the
Yangtze River as its water level kept going up.
Authorities have sandbags in place in case of a possible
overflow. The water level was 25 m at 9 pm on Wednesday and rose to
25.07 m at 8 am yesterday, according to the Wuhan flood control
headquarters. The danger mark is at 27.3 m.
The Yangtze's flow has increased from 3,600 cubic m per second
to 50,800 cubic m per second in the last 24 hours, officials
said.
The water resources commission said the river's water level
would keep on rising in the next few days. It expects the level to
be 25.68 m on Monday. The river enters Wuhan in the southwest and
passes 150 km through the city.
The water level of the Hanjiang River, a Yangtze tributary, has
also risen to 27.85 m, 0.35 m above the danger mark.
The flood control authorities in Hunan Province said yesterday
it had also entered a critical stage with 15,000 government staff
and 260,000 members of the public guarding dikes and sluice
gates.
Rainstorms began to hit northwestern parts of the province on
July 19 and 1.82 million people in Xiangxi and Zhangjiajie have so
far been affected.
About 870 km of river embankments have been affected by the high
waters, according to officials.
More heavy rain is expected, officials said. Southeastern parts
of the province are likely to be affected by typhoons and mountain
torrents.
Conditions, however, are very different in the eastern parts of
Hunan, which is still suffering from a drought that started late
last month, officials said.
Zhang Chunxian, Communist Party chief of Hunan, said flood
control and drought relief were the priorities for officials in
rural areas, and public safety must be ensured.
Meanwhile, the swollen Huaihe River is still posing a serious
threat.
Officials of east China's Jiangsu Province said dikes could be
breached following weeks of high water pressure.
The officials said water levels in the Jiangsu section of the
Huaihe River would remain dangerously high for at least another 10
days.
The Jiangsu provincial government has organized 150,000 people
to patrol the dikes since the beginning of this month. The province
has spent 67 million yuan (US$8.8 million) to reinforce 400
dikes.
(China Daily July 27, 2007)