Over the past week, storms have wreaked havoc across China,
which battles summer floods every year along the Yangtze and Yellow
rivers and other waterways. Weather forecasters are warning that
the heavy rains are headed north this week.
On Monday, the rain belt should move over most of northeast
China, the Huaihe and Yellow river areas, the Hanshui River and
parts of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, said Yang Keming, a senior
engineer with the Central Meteorological Observatory. Thunderstorms
or torrential rains will hit some areas.
It is hoped that the rainfall will relieve the heat and drought
that have been plaguing much of northwestern China's Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region.
However, meteorologists warned that several consecutive days of
rainfall have raised water levels in some of the rivers and
reservoirs in both the north and south to their limits. Residents
of these areas are urged to be alert to the risk of floods.
Some areas in the south, like the drainage area of the Huaihe
and Hanshui rivers and south of the Yangtze River, are expected to
become hot and dry, with temperatures rising to 35 degrees Celsius
or higher in the next 10 days.
On Saturday, about 3,000 passengers had to remain in the Beijing
West Railway Station after a dozen trains were delayed due to the
heavy rain in Heze, Shandong
Province. All the trains were bound for southern cities along
the Beijing-Kowloon Railway, reports said.
From last Friday through weekend, heavy rain and thunderstorms
hit areas between the Yellow River and Huaihe River, resulting in
floods on the Shaying and Hongru rivers, two tributaries of the
Huaihe in central China's Henan
Province. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters reported that nearly 7,700 residents were moved over
the weekend from two areas used to divert floodwaters from the
tributaries of the Huaihe.
The flood diversion areas are utilized to ensure the safety of
the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and cities downstream. The two
designated areas can hold 407 million cubic meters of diverted
floodwater and have a combined population of 174,500 people.
More than 89,000 people have been sent to fight the floods under
the direction of a working group dispatched by the State Flood
Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
The storms have dumped more than 430 millimeters of water over
central China. Some 340 millimeters drowned the area on Friday
alone, causing the Li and Lesser Honghe rivers to overflow their
banks in some places.
Rain lashed the area around the city of Luohe in Henan Province
for several days, pushing local river levels to record highs. No
injuries or deaths have been reported, but 64,000 people were
affected and more than 100,000 soldiers and residents were
scrambling to brace against the torrents.
On Friday, a tropical storm that hit Hong Kong with winds of up
to 60 kilometers per hour injured two people and shut down one of
Asia's top financial centers, reports said.
In another development, floods are threatening wide tracts of
the 4,000-meter-high Tibetan Plateau after rainfall in some areas
hit record highs. More than 31,000 people in 34 counties in Tibet
have been affected by flooding. Recent storms have caused at least
three deaths in the region.
Floods caused by prolonged storms had left five people dead and
11 missing in Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, southwestern China's Yunnan
Province, by Sunday evening.
Transportation and communications in Pianma town, on the border
region between Yunnan and Myanmar, have been interrupted, with four
people dead and 11 missing. The flood destroyed 129 houses and
three wood plants and submerged 20 vehicles. A mudslide also killed
a student in Gongshan County.
Storms buffeted the prefecture constantly from July 1 to July
18. The water level in Liuku Reservoir reached 810.0 meters by
Sunday morning, 1.8 meters above the warning line.
Further details about the situation of the disaster will be
known Monday, said Xie Yi, head of the prefecture.
Rainstorms are forecast to continue in the prefecture in the
next three days.
(China Daily and Xinhua July 19, 2004)