By Li Wenfang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-19 07:03
www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-07/19/content_10121057.htm
GUANGZHOU - The Three Gorges reservoir is expected to face its biggest
challenge since its operation, with a major flood brewing at the upper
reaches of the Yangtze River, water authorities said on Sunday.
The China Three Gorges Corporation forecast that floods as huge as those
in 1998 will occur.
The peak flow of the coming flood has been forecast at 70,000 cubic
meters a second, greater than the 50,000 cubic meters a second during
the flood in 1998, when 4,150 people were killed and 18.4 million
residents evacuated.
The Three Gorges navigation administration said on Saturday it will
close ship locks if floods gush in at a speed of up to 45,000 cubic
meters a second.
At least 146 people have already been confirmed dead and 40 missing in
10 provinces and Chongqing municipality by Friday, after continuous
rainstorms and floods in the areas since July 1, the Ministry of Civil
Affairs said.
Heavy rains have inflated water flow at both the mainstream and
tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with inflow from
the Minjiang, Tuojiang and Jialing rivers rising fast, said Wang Jun,
director of the hydrology bureau under the Changjiang Water Resources
Commission.
Daily rainfall at the Jiuyuan monitoring station on the Jialing River
hit 225 mm on Saturday. Inflow to the Cuntan monitoring station on the
Yangtze River mainstream went up to 42,300 cubic meters a second at 3 pm
on Sunday.
Inflow to the Three Gorges reservoir will reach 53,000, 66,000 and
60,000 cubic meters a second at 8 am on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,
respectively, the hydrology bureau forecast.
With strong rains forecast along the Jinsha River on Thursday, inflow to
the reservoir is also expected to approach 70,000 cubic meters a second.
The Yangtze River flood control and drought relief office has been
closely monitoring water in the river and adjusting the storage of the
Three Gorges reservoir to help relieve mounting flood pressure along the
middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, office director Wei
Shanzhong said.
Although the peak discharge at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River
will surpass that in 1998, the duration and total flood volume will be
less, the office said on Sunday.
Flood pressure at the middle and upper reaches of the river should also
lessen with control by the reservoir, it said.
Still, Wei warned against water volume approaching or exceeding alert
levels at monitoring stations such as those in Chenglingji, Jiujiang,
Hankou and Datong at the river's middle and lower reaches.
A number of dikes at the river's middle and lower reaches which have
been under water pressure for a long time due to the continuous heavy
rains are also susceptible to disaster, he said.
The office of the State flood control and drought relief headquarters
has ordered flood control and drought relief offices along the Yangtze
to strengthen dam control, the China News Service reported.
Sluicing at the Three Gorges Dam was also raised again on Saturday, from
32,000 cubic meters to 34,000 cubic meters, to save dam space for
another round of rainfall coming in two or three days.
About 38.216 million people have been affected and 1.315 million
relocated in the inclement weather, Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. A
total of 124,000 houses have also collapsed and another 327,000 damaged,
with direct economic losses reported at 29.52 billion yuan, the ministry
reported.
The central government has allocated about 370 million yuan in relief
funds to nine southern provinces battered by floods on Friday.
Typhoon Conson also made landfall in Hainan province at 7:50 pm on
Friday, toppling trees and billboards and killing at least two people.
It battered 68 towns and villages in eight cities and flattened 544
houses in Hainan, with direct economic losses estimated at 240 million
yuan. Conson brought heavy rain to parts of Guangdong province and the
Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. It weakened into a tropical storm on
Saturday and made a second landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday night.
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