China started a B-grade flood alert mechanism on Wednesday after
the water level of the Xijiang River in southern Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region rose 8.89 meters above the warning
line.
The water level of Xijiang at Wuzhou City reached 26.19 meters
at 4:00?PM Wednesday, according to the observation by a local
hydrologic station.
The city is expected to see the first flood crest of the river
early Thursday morning. The water level might reach 26.5 meters
when the crest comes, 9.2 meters above the warning line.
The Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters (OSFCDR) said the flood control work of the city is
tough.
More than 20,000 residents were evacuated to safe places after
the river water was spotted to have flowed over the dike in the
eastern part of the city.
In the city's western part, the river water is only 0.42 meters
to reach the level with the dike.
The office said local garrison and people were working hard to
reinforce the dike. More than 2,000 army men were dispatched to
Wuzhou to help with the flood control work Wednesday morning.
E Jingping, general secretary of the office and Vice Minister of
Water resources is now heading a task force in Wuzhou, directing
the flood control and relief work.
The central and northern parts of Guangxi were swept by heavy
rain since Saturday. The rainfall has so far caused at least 27
deaths and 20 people were reported missing in the autonomous
region. The disastrous weather also resulted in 2.33 billion yuan
(US$280 million) of economic loss.
China saw torrential rainfall in the recent week in its southern
and eastern parts. And weather forecast said that Guangxi, Guangdong,
Jiangxi,
Fujian
and Zhejiang
will also see rainstorms in the coming day.
In southern Guangdong Province, rainstorms caused cave-in of the
roadbed of the Longchuan-Huizhou section of the Beijing-Kowloon
Railway on Tuesday, and repair work is still underway.
Zhejiang Province in the east Wednesday reported an economic
loss of 226 million yuan (US$27 million) caused by rainstorms and
ensuing floods.
In Fujian Province, the water level of the Minjiang River was
reported rising. The water level reached 11.48 meters, 1.68 meters
above the warning line.
Wang Shucheng, deputy commander in chief of OSFCDR and Minister
of Water Resources, on Wednesday urged officials at all levels who
are in charge of the work of flood control to keep on alert for
possible attack of floods.
He also warned that local officials should pay special attention
to reservoir safety and possible occurrence of mountain
torrents.
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(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2005)