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Residents swim past a riverside pavilion submerged by the flooded Yangtze in Wuhan. Photo: AP

Heavy rains threaten further flooding across large parts of China

  • Torrential storms and heavy winds will put further pressure on flood defences as waters reach dangerously high levels in many places
  • Authorities warn that the Three Gorges dam and stretches of the Yangtze will come under further pressure

Large areas of China have been warned to expect more heavy rain and flooding on Sunday and Monday.

Torrential rains are expected in parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu, the National Meteorological Centre said, warning that some areas would experience up to 180mm (7 inches) of daily rainfall.

Some of these regions will see up to 70mm of hourly precipitation accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds, the centre said.

Extensive flooding along the Yangtze and other major rivers has already displaced more than 2 million people and affected millions more.

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Third flood of monsoon season for Yangtze River piles pressure on China’s Three Gorges Dam

Third flood of monsoon season for Yangtze River piles pressure on China’s Three Gorges Dam

Many parts of China, from provinces as far apart as Sichuan in the southwest and Gansu, over 1,000km to the north, have seen heavy rainfall over the past two months and the waters of many rivers in the affected regions have reached dangerous levels.

Chinese floods bring back memories of 1998 for stricken villagers

At Lake Tai, on the border of the wealthy coastal provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, water levels have exceeded the safe limits for nine consecutive days, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

“The high water levels on the Yangtze, Huai river, and Lake Tai have lasted for a long time … and there is growing pressure [on flood defences],” the ministry said.

The Changjiang water resources commission, which is responsible for the Yangtze basin, also issued a warning about rapidly increasing water levels upstream and in the Three Gorges reservoir.

The water authority said the water flow in the reservoir would hit 60,000 cubic metres per second, one of the fastest rates ever recorded.

The Three Gorges Dam, which spans Asia’s longest river, was built mainly to generate electricity, but the Chinese government also said it was expected to mitigate catastrophic flooding.

Enshi city in western Hubei province issued an emergency alert on Sunday morning, and the county government has been evacuating people along the Guangrun river due to severe floods.

Last week, authorities had to blow up parts of a dam on the Chu river in eastern Anhui province to reduce water levels.

According to state news agency Xinhua, since July, flooding has affected 23.8 million people in 24 provinces. A total of 31 people are reported missing or dead and more than 2 million people had to be relocated. The economic losses are estimated to amount to 64.4 billion yuan (US$9 billion), Xinhua reported last week.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Heavy rains expected to bring more floods
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