Villagers flee as river threatens to overflow
12/7/2007 16:32
Almost half a million people have been evacuated from the projected path
of floodwater from China's Huaihe River, which is expected to experience its
worst flooding since 1954.
Nearly 344,000 of the 488,800 relocated people
came from Anhui Province and the rest from Henan and Jiangsu
provinces.
The three provincial authorities have mobilized 511,000 people
to patrol the Huaihe embankments and issue emergency warnings, according to the
State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Thirteen sluices at
Wangjiaba, a key station on the river after it flows out of Henan Province and
enters Anhui, were opened to divert water to the Mengwa buffer zone, home to
150,000 people.
The move was expected to bring relief to more than two
million flood-hit residents in Henan, on the upper reaches of the Huaihe, and
alleviate pressure downstream, said Qiu Ruitian, deputy director of the state
flood control office.
But the water level in Hongze Lake on the Huaihe in
Jiangsu Province continued to rise yesterday despite the opening of the
sluices.
The water level reached 13.86 meters at 4pm, 0.39 meter above
the danger line and 0.03 meter higher than at 8am.
Authorities said 23
billion cubic meters of water upstream, enough to fill six Hongze Lakes, pose a
huge flood threat.
Pressure on the embankments along both sides of the
Huaihe has been mounting, endangering the safety of key cities and railway lines
on the river's middle and lower reaches.
The Anhui Provincial Flood
Control and Drought Relief Headquarters was forced to put into use three minor
flood diversion zones downstream of Wangjiaba yesterday morning and to open 14
sluices at Jiangtanghu to divert water yesterday afternoon.
Cui Li,
deputy head of Yingshang County Flood Control Headquarters, said 132 people
living in low-lying grounds in Jiangtanghu had relocated by early
Tuesday.
"Eighty police officers were mobilized to help residents remove
their belongings, and thorough searches were made to ensure all residents in
dangerous areas were moved to higher ground," Cui said.
Anhui flood
control workers have been racing to open the embankment in unpopulated Qiujiahu
so floodwaters could be diverted there.
The Huaihe River originates at
Mount Taibai, Henan Province, and runs eastward between the Yellow River and the
Yangtze River, cutting through Henan and east China's Anhui and Jiangsu
provinces before entering the Yangtze River via Hongze Lake.
Continuous
torrential rain since late June has caused widespread flooding across China,
especially in the south. At least 360 people have been killed in the flooding,
and economic losses now total 24.3 billion yuan, according to the State Flood
Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
The central government yesterday
set aside 232 million yuan (US$31.35 million) to finance flood recovery efforts
in Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei and Sichuan provinces.
Xinhua
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