94 dead, 25 missing in S. China floods

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Source: CCTV.com | 07-09-2007 16:19

A general view shows a flooded street in southwest China's Chongqing municipality July 8, 2007. REUTERS/China Daily

In China, floods, triggered by heavy rain, has left 94 people dead. Another 25 have been reported missing across a large number of southern provinces.

Meanwhile, more than 16 million people are affected of which many were evacuated to safety on Sunday afternoon. Authorities say direct economic loss has already gon past exceed 500 million US dollars.

Torrential rains since last week have triggered the largest flood along the Qujiang River, a main tributary of the Jialinjiang River in the east of Sichuan Province. Four counties in the Qujiang River valley have been deluged by floodwaters. Water, electricity and gas supplies in Quxian County have been disrupted for several days. And the downtown area of Guang'an City is still submerged by floodwaters. Authorities say the Qujiang River is already 6.8 meters higher than the alert level and is still rising.

The Yangtze River's highest flood peak passed the Three Gorges Dam on Sunday morning. Two of the dam's locks have been raised to divert floodwaters. Not far from the Three Gorges, the Chongqing Municipality has prepared to cope with the flood along the Yangtze. More than 40,000 residents have been evacuated from danger areas.

Heavy rain storms hit east China's Jiangsu and Anhui provinces on Sunday. In Nanjing, rainfall exceeded 140 millimeters. Orange and even red rain storm alerts have been issued for several cities in the region. Up to 8.6 million people from three provinces in the Huaihe River valley have been affected by flooding. Local authorities have stepped up inspection of vulnerable embankments and dams. In some areas, flood water is being pumped off farmlands around-the-clock.

Li Xingiang, Anhui flood prevention expert, said, "So far, nearly 20 million cubic meters of flood water have been pumped out from submerged farmlands."

Flood prevention authorities are closely monitoring the situation along the Huaihe River. Weather forecasters say more rain storms will pour down on Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces on Monday pushing Huaihe River's water levels even higher.