China on alert for Yangtze River flooding as storms close in
- Water resources minister urges dams in upper reaches to ease as much pressure as possible on downstream areas still recovering from last month’s inundation
- Residents in Shaanxi province told to move to higher ground amid threat of flash floods
The Ministry of Water Resources urged local authorities to be on alert, particularly along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the middle reaches of the Yellow, Hai, Songhua and Liao rivers.
The National Meteorological Centre said Sichuan province in the country’s southwest would be particularly hard hit, with up to 300mm (11.8 inches) of rain forecast for Monday.
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Between 30-50mm of rain is expected to fall per hour in the provinces of Yunnan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, rising to over 70mm an hour in some scattered areas.
Water Resources Minister E Jingping said the Three Gorges Dam and others in the upper reaches of the Yangtze should release water “precisely” to prevent floods, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Upstream dams should take on as much water as possible to ease pressure on the Three Gorges, he said.
