China's Hongze Lake, located on the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, recorded a balanced inflow and outflow on Saturday afternoon after four floodwater division channels were opened.

By 7 p.m. on Saturday, the water volume discharged from the Hongze Lake reached 12,141 cubic meters per second, 227 cubic meters per second more than the lake's inflow.

The water level of the lake also kept stable at 14.26 meters on Saturday afternoon, according to statistics from the Jiangba hydraulic station.

The Huaihe River valley is suffering its worst floods since 1991 due to continuous rainfall from the end of June, with water levels in some sections approaching or exceeding record levels.

Floodwaters flowing into the Hongze Lake from the upper and middle reaches of the Huaihe River peaked at 14,500 cubic meters per second, much higher than the 1991 record of 11,000 cubic meters.

To relieve the flood danger in the Huaihe River valley, the Office of the Sate Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters decided on July 4 to open in advance the waterway linking the river to the Yellow Sea, which helped discharge floodwaters at 1,000 cubic meters per second.

The civil affairs department of east China's Anhui Province, the worst-hit region within the valley, has allocated another 18.5million yuan (US$2.2 million) for disaster relief work, bringing the province's emergency fund to 87.4 million yuan (US$10.6 million).

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2003)