Outlets to Chengdonghu, the ninth flood diversion area of the Huaihe River, were opened Friday afternoon to divert the river's rising waters.

Due to continuous rainstorms, the Huaihe mainstream around Zhengyangguan hydrological station had risen drastically to 26.71 meters by 2 p.m. Friday, 0.16 meters more than the historic high, according to Anhui Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

This is the seventh use of the flood diversion area since its establishment.

The area, belonging to Huoqiu County and Yu'an district of Liu'an City, east China's Anhui Province, covers 16,600 hectares of farmland with a population of 129,500 people. Before the flood diversion, 105,600 inhabitants living in the low-lying areas had been evacuated.

Chengdonghu is designed to hold 1.58 billion cubic meters of water in an area of 380 square kilometers.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2003)