At least 35 people had been killed in floods and landslides in
last week until Sunday in Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces.
Starting on August 24, heavy rains which have hit most parts of
Shaanxi have caused flooding in 32 counties of the province.
A total of 21 people have been killed and nine are still
missing. Total property loss is estimated at 550 million yuan
(US$66.3 million), according to Shaanxi provincial government
sources.
And in Ya'an of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, 14 people
have been killed by landslides set off by flooding and four more
are still missing.
The continuing heavy rains have resulted in flooding along
several major tributaries of the Yellow River -- the Qinhe, Weihe
and Luohe rivers.
Over 10,000 soldiers and local residents have been mobilized to
contain the flooding.
In southern Shaanxi's Ningshaan County which suffered the worst
flooding, more than 300 buildings, many of them local government
office buildings, have been buried in landslides caused by the
heavy rain and another 300 houses have been destroyed in the
flooding, according to Shaanxi Provincial Flood Prevention
Headquarters.
"Thanks to the work of the local government, most of the 12,000
residents in the county seat were moved to safe ground before the
disaster occurred. '' said Zhang Wei, vice-governor of Shaanxi
Province, who led a rescue team to the county.
"However, the county is still under threat of flooding and
landslides because of the continuous heavy rains forecast for the
coming few days, and we should also pay great attention to epidemic
prevention after the disaster,'' said the deputy governor.
It was also reported the flooding caused by heavy rains
inflicted damages in central Shaanxi, where the province's major
cities such as Xi'an, the provincial capital, and the industrial
hubs of Xianyang and Tongchuan are all located.
"The flooding destroyed a number of roads, bridges, power supply
facilities, buildings and farmland in central Shaanxi and caused
some 80 landslides,'' said the deputy governor.
In the early morning on August 30, flooding destroyed more than
200 metres of embankment in Baoji along Weihe River, a major
tributary of the Yellow River, threatening the province's second
largest city in western Shaanxi. After a 15-hour struggle involving
3,000 soldiers, local officials and residents, the dike was saved
and more than 1,000 people are still on the embankment working to
contain the flooding, said Shaanxi Flood Prevention
Headquarters.
The most serious flooding since 1981 hit the middle reaches of
Weihe River on August 30, and at 6:36 pm when the flood peak passed
Xianyang Hydrometric Station, the flow was 5,000 cubic meters per
second. The situation is becoming more serious with water levels in
the river continuing to rise, according to the headquarters.
On August 29, the Shaanxi Provincial government issued an urgent
notice to all local governments to mobilize flood prevention
measures in face of the rising threat.
The notice urged local officials to make provisions to look
after people displaced by the flooding, to make more efforts to
repair flood-damaged homes, roads, telecommunications facilities
and power and water supplies, and to pay more attention to epidemic
prevention.
And the notice also instructed local officials to make
appropriate arrangements for the dead and injured and preparation
for agricultural production.
Three working groups sent by the provincial government have
arrived in the disaster-stricken areas and the first batch of aid
materials, valued at 200,000 yuan (US$24,096) has been sent to
hardest-hit Ningshaan County from Xi'an, according to provincial
government sources.
The weather forecast is for heavy rain over Shaanxi until
September 3, and local people are now prepared to fight even more
serious flooding.
(China Daily September 1, 2003)
