China rains — Scramblein Gongan to plug dike

Beijing, Aug 8: Chinese authorities’ drastic steps to control gushing floodwaters of the mighty Yangtze river from flowing to key cities downstream has compelled hundreds of thousands of villagers in central China’s Gongan county to desert their homes to aid plug the gushing waters, the state run media reported today.

With China’s longest river, Yangtze continuing to rise further, breaking previous records, officials are preparing to open floodgates and, if that failed, dynamite a strategic dike to divert the swollen waters at Jingjiang, one of the most treacherous sections of the 6,300-km waterway. Some 250,000 residents in Jingjiang flood diversion zone were safely evacuated by late last night and authorities plan to relocate a total of 330,000 to safer places before a possible diversion of flood waters from the swollen Yangtze river, which has seen the worst flooding in China in 44 years. Hubei province, which declared a state of emergency on Thursday clamped curfew in the area around Jingjiangembankments on the Yangtze from yesterday evening to facilitate a possible deliberate flooding of the area to save other cities like Wuhan, 200 km downstream.

Local authorities said they had not received the order from the state council, or China’s cabinet to inundate the Jingjiang flood plain.