Fatal flood toll climbs toward 400
Source: Shanghai Daily |
June 27, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WORKERS and police are toiling around the clock to repair a broken dike in east China where persistent heavy rains and devastating floods have so far left at least 379 people dead and 141 missing.
Bulldozers dumped rocks and soil to repair a breach in the dike on the Fuhe River in Jiangxi Province which so far has forced over 1 million people from their homes, Xinhua news agency reported.
More than 400 workers and soldiers narrowed a 400-meter gap in the dike by more than 200 meters as of last night, it said.
More water may be on its way, as a flood crest passed through the Xiangjiang River in Hunan Province, making its way to the swollen Yangtze River.
"When the flood comes, it comes so fast, I have to run in my shorts," Shuai Shuhua, a villager in Luozhen Town, told a Jiangxi news Website,
The waters of the Yangtze and other south China rivers normally run high in the summer, due to a combination of snowmelt from the Tibetan plateau and torrential rains in southern China.
Poyang Lake rose to 19.51 meters yesterday morning, 0.01 meters above the safe level. And Dongting Lake swelled to 31.41 meters, but was still 1.09 meters below the risk level.
News reports are drawing parallels between this year's floods and those of the summer of 1998, which burst some of the main levees along the Yangtze and inundated major cities, killing at least 3,700 people and leaving about 15 million people temporarily homeless.
This summer's floods so far have resulted in direct economic losses of 82.4 billion yuan (US$12.13 billion), Xinhua said, citing the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Heavy rains have left one dead and toppled 1,358 houses in Guangdong Province, Xinhua said citing the local flood control authority.
Bulldozers dumped rocks and soil to repair a breach in the dike on the Fuhe River in Jiangxi Province which so far has forced over 1 million people from their homes, Xinhua news agency reported.
More than 400 workers and soldiers narrowed a 400-meter gap in the dike by more than 200 meters as of last night, it said.
More water may be on its way, as a flood crest passed through the Xiangjiang River in Hunan Province, making its way to the swollen Yangtze River.
"When the flood comes, it comes so fast, I have to run in my shorts," Shuai Shuhua, a villager in Luozhen Town, told a Jiangxi news Website,
The waters of the Yangtze and other south China rivers normally run high in the summer, due to a combination of snowmelt from the Tibetan plateau and torrential rains in southern China.
Poyang Lake rose to 19.51 meters yesterday morning, 0.01 meters above the safe level. And Dongting Lake swelled to 31.41 meters, but was still 1.09 meters below the risk level.
News reports are drawing parallels between this year's floods and those of the summer of 1998, which burst some of the main levees along the Yangtze and inundated major cities, killing at least 3,700 people and leaving about 15 million people temporarily homeless.
This summer's floods so far have resulted in direct economic losses of 82.4 billion yuan (US$12.13 billion), Xinhua said, citing the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Heavy rains have left one dead and toppled 1,358 houses in Guangdong Province, Xinhua said citing the local flood control authority.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
