Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said flood control efforts are at a “crucial stage” as the death toll jumped by more than a dozen yesterday and more torrential rains are expected through tonight.
Water levels on the upper parts of China’s largest river, the Yangtze, are at their highest since 1987, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Wen has ordered officials to prepare for “more serious floods and disasters,” Xinhua reported.
Wen was touring flood damage in the central province of Hubei, where the rising waters have put pressure on the world’s largest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam. China Central Television yesterday evening showed Wen wading through floodwaters in rubber boots.
The government says the latest flooding this year has left more than 270 people dead since July 1.
Another 13 died early yesterday in a landslide caused by heavy rains in Pingliang City, a provincial official in Gansu Province said. He would not give his name, as is common with Chinese officials.
The Ministry of Water Resources at about noon yesterday warned that the water level at the dam will rise again soon and may exceed the record high reached on Friday.
Wen ordered officials to control the dam and other key anti-flood projects.
China’s national weather center has forecast more torrential rains for the region through 8pm today.
Hubei flood control officials said that the water level at the dam was 17m from its maximum capacity of 175m as of 8am yesterday.
An official with the Hubei flood control headquarters said there was no need to take special precautions because the top of the dam is 185m high.
“There’s no need to worry about it in the future. It will be safe,” the official said.
China has for years promoted the Three Gorges Dam as the best way to end centuries of floods along the Yangtze basin and dismissed complaints about the enormous environmental impact of the US$23 billion reservoir that has displaced more than 1.4 million people.
Wen said the dam has played an important role in flood prevention along the Yangtze, Xinhua said.
More than 1,000 people have died or disappeared in severe flooding in China so far this year, the highest death toll since 1998.
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