Thousands of people have been affected by floods caused by melted snow in four counties in Yili Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Some 11,226 people were trapped and 6,427 houses were damage this week.

Yili had heavy snowfall for two days from February 11, but sudden changes in temperatures caused the frozen snow to thaw very quickly.?

Temperatures went up to above freezing point, almost 12 degrees Centigrade higher than the average monthly temperature for this time of year.

Direct economic losses from the floods have reached 6.46 million yuan (US$800,000), Wu Yilin, local official of civil affairs, told China Daily yesterday.

According to Wu, Yili is still fairly underdeveloped. Many local people live in soil and wood houses, which were incapable of withstanding the floods.

Further, most of these houses were built in the 1950s and 1960s, and were rundown.

The local government has sent out anti-flood groups to the disaster-hit areas. Large forklift trucks were sent to clear away ice and silt on roads. Communications departments were repairing damaged roads.

About 2,900 people have been relocated.

According to weather forecasts, high temperatures will continue in the area over the next three days, bringing fears of more floods.

Ke Xiaoshan, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said a work group will be sent to the area if the situation gets worse.

The local government has allocated 520,000 yuan (US$65,000) to implement emergency anti-flood measures.

(China Daily February 16, 2006)