Explosives will be triggered today in the Kenli section of the
Yellow River in Dongying, East China's
Shandong
Province, as authorities prepare to combat possible floods
caused by accumulated ice.
The ice can form natural dams that may cause the water level to
rise high enough to swamp the embankments that protect people along
the river.
According to the Shandong Yellow River Flood-Control Office, by 8
am Tuesday low temperatures had iced up a total of 319.5 kilometers
of 95 sections of the Yellow River in Shandong. Thus far the ice
has caused no trouble.
The ice-bound area covers more than half the total Shandong section
of the Yellow River. Local weather broadcasts say that the
temperature in most areas of Shandong will gradually move higher in
the coming week. However, the build-up of ice is predicted to last
until the end of February.
"We are observing the ice flow on high alert. Water discharge is
undertaken per our critical calculations and discussions, so we can
ensure the proper flow of water," said Hao Chuanbin, an official
from the Shandong Yellow River Flood-Control Office.
Meanwhile, the office has been carefully monitoring the
water-diversion project that sends water from the Liaocheng section
of the river in Shandong to Tianjin, north of Shandong.
"Water might ice up while going north to colder Tianjin. Once ice
stops the flow, the water level will rise.
Ice dams will threaten to overrun the embankments that protect
millions of local residents and might lead to flooding," the
official said.
"Everything is under control now. We are taking precautions to
prevent ice from piling up and blocking the flow," he said.
Shandong is not the only place where a substantial length of the
Yellow River has frozen.
Nearly two-thirds of the section of the Yellow River in Northwest
China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has frozen, four times what
froze last year.
According to the Ningxia Yellow River Flood-Control Office, ice had
covered 215 kilometers of the 397-kilometer Yellow River section in
the region by Monday, when the freezing process eased up because of
a rise in temperature.
"The length of frozen Yellow River in Ningxia this year is the
longest since 1990. The average temperature in recent days has been
the lowest since 1984. Last year the lowest temperature was minus
15 C," said Li Xiaobo with the flood-control office.
In
Beijing, the cold front which brought the temperature down to minus
14 C last weekend has gradually moved out and the temperature is
beginning to recover, said Zhang Mingying with the Beijing
meteorological station.
(China Daily January 8, 2003)