Society

Dikes near overflowing in E China city

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-20 13:05

HANGZHOU - More than 70 km of rural dikes are close to overflowing in the city of Lanxi in east China's Zhejiang province, an authority with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said Monday.

More heavy rain started to pound Zhejiang on Saturday afternoon, and the water level of the Lanjiang River, which passes through the city, had risen sharply since Sunday, said Zhao Fayuan, deputy director with the headquarters.

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The flood peak in the upper stream of Lanjiang River was 12,500 cubic meters of water per second at 8 am Monday. The river's water level reached 33.75 meters, the highest since 1966.

Several sections of the dikes of the Lanxi city are barely holding, said Zhao.

More than 20,000 people could be affected if the dikes are breached. Water had already flowed over a few minor dikes of the river, he added.

The flood control and drought relief headquarters of Zhejiang initiated an emergency flood control plan on Monday.

The headquarters have advised Lanxi city to relocate all residents nearby the sections of the dikes at risk of overflowing and to repair them immediately.

Data from the flood control and drought relief headquarters of Zhejiang showed that by Sunday morning, 2.66 million people had been affected by continuous rainstorms in 545 townships of 50 counties in the province.

A total of 171,000 hectares of farmlands had been destroyed and 989 enterprises shut down, incurring 4.96 billion yuan ($751.5 million) in direct economic losses.