BEIJING: Reservoirs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region played remarkable roles in alleviating disasters as the most devastating floods in six decades raged across the region in late July and early August, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.
The 84 medium and large-sized reservoirs in the region detained almost 2.9 billion cubic meters of floodwater during the heaviest flooding seen since 1963, Yao Wenguang, director of the ministry’s department of flood and drought disaster prevention, said at a news conference on Monday.
This helped protect 24 towns and 500,000 hectares of farmland from being flooded, he said. If it were not for these reservoirs, over 4.6 million additional people would have needed to be evacuated.
“These reservoirs have played significant roles in flood control and disaster mitigation,” he said.
Due to the impact from Typhoon Doksuri and cold air, the entire Haihe River Basin, which covers the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, was engulfed by rainfall from July 28 to Aug 1. The average precipitation in the basin reached 155.3 millimeters, according to the ministry.Beijing, for instance, received 331 mm of rainwater within just 83 hours, which is about 60 percent of its annual average precipitation, the ministry said. The heavy downpours left 33 people dead and another 18 missing in the capital, and 82,000 people were evacuated, according to Beijing authorities. –The Daily Mail-ChinaDaily news exchange item
