BEIJING: Flooding has been forecast for the Yangtze River downstream of Dongting Lake, one of China’s largest freshwater lakes, with some sections to see water levels prompt warnings for over 10 days, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.
The Yangtze River experienced its first flood of the year on Friday, and three stations in the middle and lower reaches of its main stream issued water level warnings at 6 am on Sunday, the ministry said.
Ninety rivers in the Yangtze River Basin have seen flooding recently due to heavy rainfall, and water levels in Dongting and Poyang lakes — the country’s two largest freshwater lakes, which sit on the river’s middle and lower reaches — have risen quickly, it said. The flooding will have a wide impact and be long-lasting, the ministry said.
Its Changjiang Water Resources Commission has reduced the discharge flow of the Three Gorges Dam from 24,000 cubic meters per second to 14,000 cubic meters per second to reduce flood pressure downstream. It will continue to limit the flow of the Three Gorges Dam to allow flooding in the river basin to subside and reduce the time that water remains above warning levels. All the dams at Dongting and Poyang lakes have been put into use, the ministry said. The ministry raised emergency responses to flooding to Level III inthe provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan on Friday, and sent four additional working teams to the front lines to provide guidance in flood relief efforts.
In Hubei, the ferry company in Wuhan, the provincial capital, has suspended all services in the Yangtze and Hanjiang rivers since Saturday due to rising waters. The Hunan Provincial Department of Water Resources said the first flood of the year in Dongting Lake formed at 9 am on Sunday, with the water level at the Chenglingji hydrological station surpassing the warning level of 33 meters. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
