Flood Battle On Yangtze River
People living along China's Yangtze River are fighting to protect the lives of thousands of people and the pandas and giraffes in a zoo against the latest flood threat.
A fire brigade on July 2 moved over 6,000 animals to high ground in a large zoo in western Shanghai, half of which has been flooded for the past two days.
Local hydrologists report that the first flood peak of the year passed the Three Gorges on the upper reaches of the Yangtze early this morning and shipping channels on that section of the river have been temporarily closed until July 3.
Water levels on the middle and lower reaches rose rapidly this morning, with record high levels reported where two of its major branches meet.
Meteorologists in the city of Wuhan warn that more floods can be expected later this summer although the heavy rains that have been going on for 10 days began easing up today. Government officials visited river banks to oversee flood-fighting efforts as Hubei Province declared a state of emergency.
In Anhui Province, on the middle reaches, over 2,000 people and hundreds of machines are busy repairing highways that were cut by floodwaters. According to the local transportation department, use of all 13 provincial trunk highways was temporarily stopped in the past 70 hours and only 3 have been reopened as of today.
Over a million people in Jiangsu Province on the lower reaches are fighting day and night to repair some 6,700 dangerous leaks in dams as water levels reached a record high. So far, the province has pumped the water from 60 percent of the planted fields that were flooded and restored production at 354 flood-damaged plants.
According to the Central Meteorology Station (CMS), the rain finally stopped along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze early today after 10 days of heavy downpours.
Since June 22, heavy rains have fallen in provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi, causing floods along some parts of the Yangtze. (Xinhua)
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