Vice-Premier Calls for Increased Flood Control Efforts
Vice-premier Wen Jiabao, who is in charge of flood control in China, has said that the fight against possible floods in the Taihu Lake basin involving Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and the city of Shanghai has been effective but needs to be strengthened.
Wen made the remark during a visit to the Taihu areas from July 9 to July 10, where he visited the dyke around the 2,200-sq.km. lake, a main sluice gate, and some major water conservation facilities.
Water levels in Lake Taihu were 0.29 meters higher than the record on July 7, after the Taihu area was hit by torrential rains since late last month and rainfalls of nearly three times the normal amount of rain.
Wen told officials from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai to be sure of the overall safety of local people, dykes, major cities, and trunk road.
He said that dykes around the lake and cities need to be further reinforced and that water needs to be drained into flood- relief channels and sluice gates that were built after the devastating floods in 1991 and have been useful in combating floods this year. (Xinhua)
| 
