Waiting game as crest approaches
For the past five days, mahjong parlour owner Zhou Yuelin has killed time by taking a nap on a stool surrounded by floodwaters.
The 50-year-old woman's movements were limited as she has had to guard her possessions which were rescued from her flooded house in an old street of Hunan province's Chenglingji town, 13km from Yueyang city.
They included an old television set, a bed, an electric fan, a stove, a wardrobe and a kitten - which now have been placed inside two tents borrowed from her neighbourhood committee and a friend.
Ms Zhou at first thought her house might be spared as it was located on the highest level of the street. She watched her neighbours retreat one by one last week and kept hoping for the best. But the level of Dongting Lake kept rising and she was finally left with no choice but to retreat.
And with temperatures hovering at about 34 degrees Celsius, Ms Zhou has ended up spending her days in the middle of the water, which helps to cool her down.
Ms Zhou and her neighbours were anxiously awaiting the flood crest, which is expected to hit the town this morning.
'If the water keeps rising, it will be like in 1996 and 1998. At that time my house collapsed and I had to rebuild it all over again,' she said. 'Relief? No way. We got nothing and we have to count on ourselves.'
Asked if she ever thought of moving or being relocated to a safer place, Ms Zhou said: 'Moving to a better place? Such good things won't happen to us. Houses are so expensive and I cannot afford them. I have nowhere to go but to guard this old house.'
As residents of the old street sat on stools or lay on beds by the water, some decided to make the most of a bad situation - the street, which now looks like a river, has become a popular fishing spot.
