The most severe flood peak ever since 1995 hit Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province Saturday, bringing damages to the bridges, highways and residential quarters on both sides of the Hunhe River, said the local source.

The ongoing cate festival was forced to close due to the flood peak, and more than 10,000 tourists were evacuated, the source said.

At 3:48 AM Sunday, the water flow was registered at 3,690 cu m per second at the Hunhe River monitoring station, approaching the maximum in flood control and prevention.

The Shenyang City has issued urgent notice and declared entering into the second-grade flood warning situation.

According to the city's water conservancy bureau, the flood peak has fallen back to 2,310 cu m per second by Sunday noon, due to flood discharging at the Dahuofang Reservoir in the upper reaches of the Hunhe River.

The flood peak flow in the Hunhe River is expected to reach about 3,000 cu m per second by Sunday night, the source said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2005)