Villagers evacuated as downpours threaten riverbanks
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More than 170,000 residents in the province have been evacuated to 400 safe locations, including schools, government offices and welfare organizations, and another 310,000 people have turned to friends or relatives for temporary housing.
Also, some residents have set up make-shift shelters for themselves.
"We made a plastic shelter on the mountain behind my house Saturday when we were hit by a rainstorm. We can stay here when the heavy rains come," said Bi Jian'an, a villager in Sandaohu Village, Baishan City.
In Changshan Town, Huadian City, three officials have been sacked for failing to discharge floodwaters at the Dahe Reservoir. The decision not to discharge water resulted in more then 40 people dead or missing in downstream villages after the reservoir breached its banks last Wednesday.
The floods have destroyed 677 bridges and damaged 51 reservoirs in Jilin since July 27.
Direct industrial losses exceed 3 billion yuan (443 million U.S.dollars), according to officials, after more than 300 companies were forced to halt or reduce production amid the floods and continuous downpours.
Jilin has received 1 million yuan in donations from the Shanghai municipal government and 3 million yuan from the Zhejiang provincial government for rescue and relief work.
Nationwide, rain-triggered floods have left 1,072 people dead and 619 missing this year, a senior flood control official said Wednesday.
The floods affected 140 million people in 28 provinces and regions and caused economic losses estimated at almost 210 billion yuan, said Shu Qingpeng, deputy director of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
The flooding also destroyed more than 1.1 million homes and damaged 9.72 million hectares of farmland, Shu said during an online interview with the Chinese government web portal www.gov.cn on Wednesday.
China's large rivers, including the Yangtze, the Yellow and the Songhua, were all swollen to dangerous levels after heavy rains, which inundated more than 160 cities across the country, Shu said.
Eight small reservoirs collapsed during the rains, but no casualties were reported, though another 1,000 reservoirs were at risk. Water also overflowed from some small and medium-sized rivers, Shu said.
Local authorities evacuated 10.42 million people from areas at risk of flooding this year, he said.
Shu said President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice Premier Hui Liangyu were concerned about the disasters, as well as with the flood control and rescue work.
Premier Wen was inspecting flood control operations in Jilin Province on Tuesday and Wednesday. Vice Premier Hui stressed Tuesday that more efforts should be made to step up late rice planting to guarantee a good harvest in the wake of the floods.
