Fifth flood crest on Weihe River begins to fall ( 2003-10-05 15:08) (Xinhua)
The fifth flood crest on the Weihe River in northwest China's Shaanxi
Province begins to fall slowly on Sunday, as the water level has dropped 0.04
meters over the past several hours, officials said.
Officials with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters
said that the river's water flow at the Huaxian Hydrological Station has fallen
to 2,710 cubic meters per second as of 9:00 a.m. from the peak flow of 2,810
cubic meters per second at 6:30 a.m on Sunday.
Although the water level has dropped, the water flow of over 2,000 cubic
meters per second, the alert line, is expected to continue till the morning of
October 7, the officials added.
The fifth flood crest on the Weihe River was formed on October 3, with a
water flow of 2,660 cubic meters per second at the Lintong Hydrological Station,
and forced 130,000 people in the Huaxian County to evacuate. About 50,000 people
have been stationed to patrol the dykes around the clock along the river.
Since late August, the Weihe River, the largest tributary of the Yellow
River, China's second longest, has seen the largest flooding in 20 years. More
than 300,000 people were evacuated and over 200 square kilometers of land was
inundated.
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