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  Yahoo News 31 Jul 07
China faces twin woes of floods, drought

PlanetArk 1 Aug 07
China Floods Put Three Gorges Dam to the Test

BEIJING - Flood waters are putting China's massive Three Gorges Dam to the test and raising water levels on its longest river, the Yangtze, after weeks of floods nationwide killed about 700 people, state media said on Tuesday.

Water is being released from the reservoir behind the world's largest hydroelectric project through giant sluice gates, raising water levels downstream.

The central province of Hubei was on alert as the flood crest was expected to reach or exceed levels that would trigger flood warnings, Xinhua news agency said.

"The Three Gorges Dam has opened 18 sluices and the water level in the reservoir will continue to rise," Xinhua quoted a worker at the dam's operation department as saying. "The safety of the dam will be tested."

Water is pouring into the Three Gorges reservoir, which stretches for hundreds of kilometres through narrow gorges, at 51,000 cubic metres per second, and could rise to 56,700 cubic metres per second on Tuesday. The sluice gates will release water at 48,000 cubic metres per second.

High water levels forced the closure of the ship locks at the dam on Monday.

Hubei was preparing for flood prevention work along the 1,390-km (860-mile) section of the river that runs from the dam to the industrial city of Wuhan, Xinhua said.

Heavy flooding along the Yangtze in 1998 left the streets of Wuhan waist-deep in water while about 3,000 died and 14 million were made homeless along the river.

About 700 Chinese have died this summer from heavy rains that triggered landslides, floods and house collapses. Millions fled the swollen Huai River in the central province of Henan and the eastern provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu. River levels there have begun to retreat after a month of high water.

Downpours have killed 16 people and left 14 missing in the northwestern province of Shaanxi in the past three days, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. More than 35,000 residents were evacuated as 8,536 houses collapsed and roads and telecommunications were cut off, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site (www.mca.gov.cn). "The rain is continuing and the damage is expected to increase," the statement said.

In parts of the flood-battered southwestern province of Guizhou, four people were killed, five seriously injured and three went missing in landslides and mud and rock flows triggered by rainstorms since Sunday, Xinhua said.

The casualties were reported in Renhuai city, renowned for its fiery Moutai drink, China's national liquor, but serious river and street flooding also hit two dozen counties where many thousands were stranded, Xinhua said.

Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded at Beijing airport on Monday when almost all evening flights were cancelled because of hours of thunderstorms and heavy rain, the Beijing News said on Tuesday.

Sixty-nine Chinese miners spent a second day trapped in a flooded coal pit in the central province of Henan, but they were safe and in contact with rescuers late on Monday, state media said.

High temperatures in seven provinces in China's east and south meanwhile have prolonged a drought that has persisted for nearly a month.

Yahoo News 31 Jul 07
China faces twin woes of floods, drought

Much of China was inundated by the worst rains of the year, testing the Three Gorges Dam's anti-flood capacity, even as over a million people suffered from serious drought, state media said Tuesday.

In northwest China's Shaanxi province, 21 were confirmed dead and 18 others were still missing in floods triggered by heavy downpours that began Saturday, the Xinhua news agency reported.

As of Tuesday morning, 660,000 people in Shaanxi had been affected, and over 38,000 had been evacuated, according to the agency. More than 700 people have been killed by floods, landslides and lightning this year in China, according to Xinhua.

Meanwhile, the giant Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze was put to its first serious test as the biggest flood crest of the year moved down China's longest river.

"Following 14 years of construction, the Three Gorges construction has now begun for the first time to fulfil its anti-flood functions," Xinhua said.

On Monday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies described this summer's inundations as "some of the worst flooding to hit the country in the last 10 years."

In 2005 more than 1,000 people were killed in China's annual flood season, while in 1998, 4,185 people lost their lives in the deadliest rainy season of the past decade.

The capital Beijing was also hit by the heaviest rainstorm this summer on Monday, causing serious delays at the city's international airport and stranding about 10,000 passengers.

Xinhua said the terminal building had become "a mess" by Monday night, with children and elderly sleeping on the floor and passengers furious with airline companies, which claimed they were unable to provide food and lodging.

Even as rain was wreaking havoc in Beijing, part of north and northeast China is enduring its worst drought in two decades, according to the China Meteorological Administration climate office.

In central China's Hunan province, sustained drought for the past four months had triggered a water crisis for 1.2 million people, Xinhua said. China's largest city Shanghai is also sweltering through what is likely to become its hottest summer on record.

Struggling to understand the freak weather patterns, scientists are blaming global warming, an issue that is the focus of growing attention in the world's most populous country.
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