Continuous rain in east China has swollen rivers and reservoirs, threatened hundreds of thousands of residents and soaked large areas of land.
A 70-km section of the Huaihe River from Wangjiaba to Runheji in Anhui Province and 10 medium-sized reservoirs have seen their water level rise to warning marks, said Long Bin, an official with the Anhui flood control headquarters.
Most parts in northern Anhui reported precipitation of 100 to 127 millimeters from Friday to Saturday. Heavy rains have been frequent since late June in the province.
As of Saturday, water 0.2 to one meter deep has drenched 465 villages in Suzhou, Bozhou and Bengbu, affecting 269,000 people, Long said.
Around 590,000 hectares of land has been waterlogged in Anhui. More than 110,000 people have been mobilized to drain water from their flooded fields and homes.
Meanwhile, the Sanhe sluice gate at Hongze Lake in neighboring Jiangsu Province downstream has been fully opened to discharge floodwater into the Yangtze River.
Weather forecasts said rains would continue in the Huaihe River area till Monday.
The flood-prone Huaihe River cuts across China between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, running through Henan Province in central China and Anhui and Jiangsu provinces before entering the Yangtze River via Hongze Lake.
(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2007)
