China prepares for massive flood

BEIJING - A massive flood is expected to hit China with rising water level in the country’s longest Yangtze river threatening a disaster expected to be worse than the 1998 flooding which left over 4,000 people dead.

With a major flood brewing at the upper reaches of the Yangtze river, officials of the Three Gorges dam, country’s main reservoir, have forecast the onset of floods as huge as those in 1998.

The peak flow of the coming flood has been forecast at 70,000 cubic meters a second, greater than the 50,000 cubic meters a second during the flood in 1998, when 4,150 people were killed and 18.4 million evacuated, China Daily reported Sunday.

At least 146 people have been killed and 40 are missing in 10 provinces and Chongqing municipality till Friday, after continuous rainstorms and floods in the areas since July 1, the ministry of civil affairs said.

Heavy rains have inflated the mainstream and tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with inflow from the Minjiang, Tuojiang and Jialing rivers rising fast, said Wang Jun, director of the hydrology bureau under the Changjiang Water Resources Commission.

Rainfall at the Jiuyuan monitoring station on the Jialing River hit 225 mm Saturday. Inflow at the Cuntan monitoring station on the Yangtze River went up to 42,300 cubic meter per second Sunday.

Inflow to the Three Gorges reservoir will reach 53,000, 66,000 and 60,000 cubic meters a second at 8 a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, the hydrology bureau forecast.

With strong rains forecast along the Jinsha River Thursday, inflow to the reservoir is also expected to approach 70,000 cubic meters a second.

The flood control office has been closely monitoring the water level and adjusting the storage of the reservoir to help relieve mounting water pressure along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, office director Wei Shanzhong said.

Although the peak discharge at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River will surpass that in 1998, the duration and total flood volume will be less, the office said Sunday.

Flood pressure at the middle and upper reaches of the river should also lessen with control by the reservoir, it said.

Still, Wei warned against water volume approaching or exceeding alert levels at monitoring stations such as those in Chenglingji, Jiujiang, Hankou and Datong.

A number of dykes at the river’s middle and lower reaches which have been facing water pressure due to the continuous heavy rains are also susceptible to disaster, he said.

The state flood control and drought relief office has been asked to strenghten dam control along the Yangtze, the China News Service reported.

Sluicing at the Three Gorges Dam was raised Saturday, from 32,000 to 34,000 cubic meters, to make space for further rainfall expected in the next two-three days.

About 38.216 million people have been affected and 1.315 million relocated due to inclement weather, the ministry of civil affairs said.

A total of 124,000 houses have also collapsed and another 327,000 damaged, with direct economic losses reported at 29.52 billion yuan, the ministry added.