Floods force China to evacuate more people

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Floods force China to evacuate more people

(Xinhua) 20:56, August 19, 2013

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More people have been evacuated and personnel mobilized to combat rare floods which swept across northeast and south China after over 200 people were reported dead or missing.

Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has been on high alert as swelling rivers forced more evacuations.

Authorities in Tongjiang City, which is along the swollen Heilong River, have started a Grade I response preparing for floods. More than 30,000 residents are displaced and 20,000 people have joined the flood control efforts.

The Heilongjiang Provincial Hydrological Bureau forecast the stretch between Tongjiang and Fuyuan County will witness the largest flooding in its history. Rain is predicted in the next few days in Tongjiang.

Water may exceed the warning level by 2.1 meters when a flood peak comes at the end of this month to the Fuyuan section in the downstream of the Heilong River, the provincial flood control headquarters predicted.

With a population of more than 100,000, Fuyuan is located in the intersection area between the Heilong and Wusuli rivers. On Monday, the water level of the Fuyuan section of the Wusuli River rose to 100.32 meters, two cm above the warning level.

The water level of Heilong River's Fuyuan section surpassed warning levels by 116 cm on Saturday. Many residents, who witnessed large flooding in 1984 and 1998, said they had never seen such big floods.

"The evacuation of the whole township was urgent and I did not take anything with me from my house," said Fu Baodong, a displaced resident in Wusu Township in Fuyuan.

Fu Yancheng, head of the Fuyuan county government said the county had sped up evacuation efforts with 13,000 people already displaced.

The fourth flood peak of the Heilong River reached Xunke County on Monday while counties or cities in downstream Xunke will continue to see rising water levels.

In the Chaoyang section in Jiameng County, the water level of the Heilong river rose 25 cm on Monday to hit 100.34 meters, close to the record high of 100.49 meters. The flood peak will arrive in Jiameng around Wednesday.

More than 16,000 people have been evacuated in Jiameng.

"All villagers have been evacuated. Only a few government employees and border policemen are left," said Liang Xinzhai, a policemen in Changsheng Township in Jiameng.

Rescuers have given up efforts to heighten a 30-km dam, which is in danger of collapse any time in Changsheng.

The floods have also hit Jilin and Liaoning provinces in northeast China and south China's Guangdong Province.

A total of 105 people have been killed and another 115 left missing in floods ravaging northeast China and a typhoon that lashed southern regions, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Monday.