The second flood crest on the Weihe River, a tributary of the
Yellow River, arrived at Huaxian County in northwest China's
Shaanxi Province yesterday, forcing the evacuation of over 100,000
residents from the threatened areas.
The embankments had been soaked by the first flood crest long
before the arrival of the second crest traveling at speeds
surpassing the recorded high, according to local flood control
departments.
The Shaanxi Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters has allocated 20 rubber boats and 1,000 life jackets
to the counties along the river. Residents began to move from the
threatened areas on Sunday morning.
Between August 24 and early yesterday morning all of Shaanxi's
108 counties and districts were hit continuously by heavy rain,
with 58 counties facing precipitation of over 100 millimeters,
according to the headquarters.
"The heavy rain was mainly concentrated in the southern parts of
northern Shaanxi, northern parts of central Shaanxi and central and
western parts of southern Shaanxi. Southern Ningshaan County which
suffered the worst flooding had a precipitation of 357
millimeters," the headquarters said.
The continuous heavy rain caused flooding in 50 rivers in the
province and some 40 percent of its reservoirs are overfilled, with
nine reservoirs now discharging flood water, flood headquarters
reported.
According to statistics, 37 counties in Shaanxi have been hit by
floods since August 24, and some 1.56 million people are suffering
from the disaster.
"The flooding and landslides caused by heavy rain have destroyed
16,400 houses and 49,000 hectares of farmland. Direct economic
losses have reached 2 billion yuan (US$240 million)," the
headquarters said.
(China Daily September 2, 2003)
