Areas along the Huaihe River will continue to receive strong
rainfall today, making flood control work increasingly difficult in
east China's
Anhui
Province, which has already been seriously hit by floods.
In
24 hours from last night, the southern and eastern parts of Henan
Province and most parts of Anhui and Jiangsu
provinces, which the Huaihe River passes through, will experience
torrential rain, thundershowers or hurricanes, said the Central
Meteorological Station.
The localities need to guard against and control floods and
geological disasters such as landslides, said the station.
Meanwhile, the station also forecast that the eastern part of
Guizhou Province, the northern part of Hunan
Province, and the eastern part of Hubei
Province will also suffer heavy rain or thunderstorms.
The water level in most sections of the Huaihe River has exceeded
the highest point since 1991 when a massive flood occurred in the
river, exceeding that of 1954. The entire mainstream of the river
has exceeded the flood warning line.
The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and its
provincial headquarters have set up seven flood diversion areas
which hold 1.4 billion cubic meters of water. Some new canals are
also being used to reduce the water level in the mainstream.
The province has allocated over 24.4 million yuan (US$2.97 million)
to the affected areas. A large quantity of relief goods and a
5,000-strong emergency task force have been sent to the areas.
In
another development, the water levels of the Songhua River
tributaries in northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province are rising, according to local hydrology and water
resources survey offices.
As
of 8 am Tuesday, the water level at the Harbin Hydrology Station
had climbed to 111.23 meters, 1.16 meters above the record low on
June 12.
But with the onset of the flood season in late June, the water
levels of all the tributaries of the Songhua and Neijiang rivers in
the northeast have begun to rise.
In
Xi'an, the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi
Province, three local residents were killed in a sudden
thunderstorm on Monday.
(China Daily July 9, 2003)