Chinese officials yesterday raced to stem floods caused by a dam breach in central China, state media reported, as the nation grapples with a summer of extreme weather.
The breach occurred on Friday afternoon in part of an embankment on the shore of Dongting Lake in central China’s Hunan Province, Xinhua news agency said.
No casualties were immediately reported, but the 226m breach forced nearly 6,000 people to evacuate from nearby areas, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said.
Photo: Reuters
It published video footage showing lake water flowing through a yawning gap in a dyke, inundating farmland and lapping at the rooftops of village homes.
The country’s road monitoring center said traffic controls had been imposed on all roads leading in and out of Hunan’s Huarong County — home to about 500,000 people — “due to flood prevention needs.”
“During the control period, vehicles other than those assisting with flood prevention are prohibited from passing through,” the center said in a statement on social media platform Sina Weibo.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “urged all-out rescue and relief work to safeguard people’s lives and property,” Xinhua reported.
The Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched more than 800 people, nearly 150 vehicles and dozens of boats to help block up the breach and assist with flood relief work, Xinhua said.
The central government has earmarked an extra 540 million yuan (US$74.3 million) in relief funding for Hunan and other disaster-hit areas, CCTV reported, citing the Chinese Ministry of Finance and emergency management ministry.
China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with flooding across central and southern regions as much of the north swelters through rolling heat waves.
Nearly a 250,000 people were evacuated this week in eastern China as rainstorms caused the Yangtze and other rivers to swell, state media had said.
Meanwhile, he death toll from a tornado in eastern Shandong Province on Friday rose from one to five, with dozens of others injured, CCTV said yesterday.
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