Rainstorm havoc leaves 403 dead
13/7/2007 16:16
A total of 403 people have died, 105 are missing and 3.17 million
people have been relocated as heavy rains, coupled with ferocious flood waters,
continue to batter central and southern China.
Millions of people strung
across 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have been affected by
torrential rains and floods.
More than 5.5 million hectares of grain
crops have been damaged while 30,000 houses are partially or wholly
destroyed.
Economic losses had risen to 31.9 billion yuan (US$4.25
billion). The damages to hydrological projects amounted to nearly 5 billion yuan
or 15 percent of the total.
Cheng Dianlong, deputy director of the State
Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said that water levels of the
trunk Huaihe River are still above warning marks, with Wujiadu registering a
water level of 20.86 meters and Jiangjiaba as much as 13.85 meters.
Seven
flood buffer zones have been used to reduce flood peaks in the middle reaches of
the Huaihe, he said.
Around 511,200 people, including civilians, armed
forces and reserve military personnel, in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces
along the river have been mobilized to patrol river banks and water
dams.
More relief materials, including 80 rubber boats, 40,000 square
meters of water-proof fabric, 6,000 life jackets and 100,000 knitted sacks have
been sent to the flood-hit provinces.
The three provinces have suffered a
direct economic loss of 8.4 billion yuan, more than a quarter of the country's
total.
The China Meteorological Station yesterday forecast heavy rain for
the next three days in the Huaihe River valley and the middle and lower reaches
of the Yangtze River.
Meanwhile, authorities yesterday closed one of the
major flood diversion channels on the Huaihe in anticipation of further flood
peaks.
Thirteen sluices at Wangjiaba, a key hydrological station in
Anhui, were closed almost two days after they were opened in a move to reserve
capacity in flood zones, said an official from the Huaihe River Flood Control
and Drought Relief Headquarters.
"We have received an order that when the
water level with Wangjiaba falls back to or below 29.3 meters, the danger line,
we should exercise restraint in diversion operations at Wangjiaba to reserve
capacity in the Mengwa zone for bigger floods and to contain the losses from
inundation inside Mengwa," he said.
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