BEIJING: Hebei province has made use of seven detention areas to effectively reduce floodwater pressure in the basin, a senior official from the provincial water authority said.
The province witnessed 144 hours of heavy rainfall over the week, which stopped on Wednesday.
During the period, the province recorded an average rainfall of 146.2 millimeters, amounting to about 27.5 billion cubic meters of water, which is more than double the combined total storage capacity of all large and medium-sized reservoirs in Hebei, chinanews.com reported.
As of Wednesday, the province had diverted about 1.8 billion cubic meters of floodwater to detention areas, according to the provincial emergency management department.
A detention basin is an area that is designed or designated for the temporary or permanent retention of floodwaters. “These low-lying areas include lakes, wetlands, farms and even residential areas,” Cheng Xiaotao, deputy chief engineer of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, told China Central Television. More than 850,000 residents living around the detention areas, including Xiaoqing River, Langouwa and Dongdian, have been relocated to safety, the emergency management department said, adding that another 370,000 people have been evacuated from other regions. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
