The Yellow River, China's second longest, is to maintain its flood alert after a freak weather pattern caused continuous rains, flood control agencies announced Wednesday.  

The State Flood Control Headquarters and the Yellow River Flood Control Headquarters have asked local governments at the middle and lower reaches of the river to strengthen monitoring water levels and ensure safety.

Zhang Jinliang, director of the flood control office with the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee, said the river valleys had suffered from late August to early October a special weather phenomenon called "autumn rains in west China."

This was characterized by continuous rains in areas east of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to east China's Shandong Province through southern Shaanxi Province and western Shanxi Province. In 1949 and1964, the river was hit by the autumn rain, but for a shorter period of time.

The autumn rains have caused more than ten floods on its mainstream and tributaries on the middle reaches. Floods had inundated some areas in Lankao county in Henan Province and Dongming county in Shandong Province, on the lower reaches.

Statistics show that by Oct. 7, floods had hit 114 villages in Shandong and Henan, affecting 120,000 people and 12,000 hectares of farmland.

The headquarters forecast more flood waters will reach the lower reaches of the river in the near future.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2003)