China goes all out for flood control, drought relief

BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- China is going all out for flood control, drought relief and disaster reduction, as heavy rainfalls have triggered flooding in parts of north China while persistent high temperatures have severely affected parts of south China.

Flash floods caused by excessive rains have brought casualties. The death toll from a mountain torrent caused by heavy rains in northwest China's Qinghai Province has risen to 26, with another five people still missing.

China has earmarked 50 million yuan (7.3 million U.S. dollars) from the central natural-disaster relief fund to support the rescue and recovery work.

A work team sent by the Ministry of Emergency Management as well as the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has urged all-out efforts to find and rescue trapped residents, prevent secondary disasters and help relocate disaster-stricken people.

In Liaoning Province, heavy rains since late July have caused floods, leading to casualties and property losses.

China has allocated a budgetary fund of 62 million yuan for Liaoning to restore the infrastructure and public service facilities damaged by heavy rains and floods.

At the same time, a series of drought relief measures have been taken in parts of China that have been hit by lingering heatwaves, including southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Persistent drought and heatwaves have caused multiple bush fires in the mountainous areas of Chongqing. Over 5,000 rescue personnel, including firefighters and professional rescue teams, have been mobilized to put out the fires. More than 1,500 people have been evacuated to safe places.

Since July, most areas of the Yangtze River basin have experienced high temperatures, and there has been 45 percent less rainfall than the average over recent years, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

As of Monday, drought has affected 3.4 million people and 48.48 million mu (3.23 million hectares) of farmland in 10 provincial-level regions in the Yangtze River basin, including Chongqing, Sichuan and Hubei, the ministry said.

The ministry announced last week that reservoirs in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River would further discharge 1.48 billion cubic meters of water into the lower reaches, starting on Aug. 16.

Weather forecasts have indicated that heatwaves in some regions will wane this week as Typhoon Ma-on, the ninth this year, is expected to make landfall in Guangdong Province on Thursday and alleviate drought conditions in affected areas.