BEIJING: Chinese authorities have intensified efforts for flood prevention and control after three typhoons impacted the country’s eastern and southern regions in the past few days.
Typhoon Bebinca made landfall near Shanghai’s Lingang area of Pudong district on Sept 16, followed by Typhoon Pulasan, which struck Zhoushan in the neighboring Zhejiang province on Sept 19, making a second landfall in Shanghai’s Fengxian district later the same day.
Additionally, Typhoon Soulik, which had made landfall in Vietnam on Sept 19, brought heavy rainfall to China’s southern island province of Hainan.
From Sept 15 to 19, large parts of Zhejiang, Shanghai, northern and eastern Anhui, western and southern Jiangsu, and parts of Shandong and Henan experienced heavy to torrential rain. In certain areas, storms produced extreme rainfall.
According to the Ministry of Water Resources, water levels on Taihu Lake, China’s third-largest freshwater lake situated near Shanghai, continued to rise, with 54 monitoring stations in the surrounding river network reporting flood levels surpassing safety thresholds. The water levels or flow rates of four small to medium-sized rivers in the region have surpassed their historically recorded readings.
While the impact of Typhoon Bebinca has now concluded, Typhoon Pulasan is expected to bring heavy to torrential rain to parts of eastern and northern Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui from Sept 20 to 22. Some areas may experience extremely heavy rainfall. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
