Flood waters continue raging over farmland in the westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as the size of the breach in the Manas River embankment keeps increasing.

The split has grown from 100 to 300 meters since the Manas River broke through the embankment on Tuesday. A four-meter deep split was cut into the gaping wound but efforts to seal it were frustrated by landslides upstream.

More than 2000 locals, soldiers stationed in the area and victimized farmers are battling to control the floodwaters and repair the embankment, but to little avail, according to local officials.

The local government has used heavy cranes and diggers to divert the flooded river water in the upper reaches, to cut down the amount of water pouring through the damaged dykes.

Ten trucks and other vehicles are laden with rocks and stones, ready to be used to block up the burst embankment, sources said.

The disaster was caused by continuous torrential rain, which had raised the river water level in the Ethnic Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Changji in the north of the autonomous region.

The surging waters, peaking at about 530 cubic meters per second, tore open a 100-meter-wide gap in the stop-bank Tuesday afternoon, inundating up to 67 hectares of croplands.

Nearly 130 hectares of farmland was underwater by Wednesday evening.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2002)