Society

Floods put strain on dikes

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-21 08:06

HANGZHOU - More than 70 kilometers of dikes are in danger of overflowing in the eastern province of Zhejiang as rain-triggered floods that have killed at least 175 people and left 86 missing across southern China continue to pose problems.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Monday that four rounds of torrential rain had battered the region since June 3, causing floods and landslides in the Yangtze River's downstream provinces and several southwestern and southern provinces.

Farmers in Nubu town, Lanxi city, Zhejiang province, use a small boat to evacuate their pigs on Monday, June 20, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

The floods have affected 36.57 million people and left 1.64 million displaced in 510 counties in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and the Chongqing municipality, the ministry said in a statement.

The direct economic loss caused by the floods is around 35 billion yuan ($5.41 billion), it added.

The ministries of finance and civil affairs have allocated a total of 165 million yuan in living subsidies for people in need in the flood-hit areas, according to the statement.

Zhao Fayuan, deputy director of Zhejiang provincial flood control headquarters, said on Monday that more than 70 km of rural dikes were close to overflowing in the area around Lanxi city.

Heavy rains pounded Zhejiang province during the weekend and the level of a river that passes through Lanxi city rose sharply, Zhao said. The Lanjiang River has now hit 34 meters, its highest since 1966.

The upper reaches of the Lanjiang River were seeing 12,500 cubic meters of water per second flowing at 8 am on Monday.

Several sections of the city's dikes were barely holding up, Zhao said.

More than 20,000 people could be affected if the dikes are breached. Water has already flowed over a few minor dikes, he added.

The flood control and drought relief headquarters initiated an emergency flood control plan on Monday.

Lanxi city has already relocated all threatened residents and sent professionals to reinforce the dikes.

Zhao said the rising levels of major rivers in the province had made flood control work more difficult.

As of 7 am on Monday, floods had hit 10 cities in the province, with more than 4.41 million people affected by the continuous rainstorms.

A total of 241,600 hectares of farmland had been ruined and 1,846 enterprises had closed, incurring 7.69 billion yuan in direct economic losses in the province.

The Yangtze River hydrology bureau warned on Monday that heavy rain and resulting floods had battered the basin of the Yangtze River, China's longest river, causing water levels to rise dramatically since the start of the flooding season on June 10.

Water levels at several of the river's observation stations rose by an average of 0.5 meters per day during the past two days, the bureau said on Monday.

Water Resources Minister Chen Lei warned that at least 10 major rivers in the affected areas were threatening to burst their banks.

"Severe floods triggered by heavy rains will continue to threaten parts of southern China," he said on Sunday in remarks posted on his ministry's website.

"There is an increasing possibility that downpours with enhanced frequency and intensity will continue to lash regions in the south."

Xinhua