BEIJING - The national flood and drought prevention office has warned that severefloods are more likely to occur this year due to markedly increased rainfall, according toSunday media reports.
Floods may cause greater damage this year and the possibility of massive floods alongthe country's rivers cannot be ruled out, the office of the state flood control anddrought relief headquarters was quoted as saying in a report by the People's Daily.
Floods have occurred along several tributaries of the Yangtze River, China's longestriver, on a dangerous scale during the current flood season, the report said, quotingWu Daoxi, an official in charge of the Yangtze River flood and drought preventionoffice.
Water levels on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze are one to three metersgreater than the historical average, Wu said.
The Yangtze River valley was last hit by massive floods in 1998. The chance for large-scale flooding is significantly higher now, Wu said.
Heavy floods are also likely to occur along the Huaihe River, a major waterway incentral China, the report quoted Zhang Jiatuan, deputy head of the state flood anddrought prevention office, as saying.
The report said precipitation levels are likely to increase by more than 20 to 50 percentabove normal levels near the northeastern end of the Huaihe River and the YellowRiver valley this summer.
The Pearl River, China's third-longest river, will probably see regional floods ordroughts in its valley this year due to the unbalanced distribution of rainfall, the reportquoted Liu Zhisen, a hydrology official from the Pearl River water resourcescommission, as saying.
Authorities have discharged some water from mid- and large-sized reservoirs along theYangtze River, including the Three Gorges Reservoir, to prepare them for storingfloodwaters, according to the report.
The Chinese government has spent heavily on dam and dike projects after massiveflooding on parts of the Yangtze River killed 4,150 people in 1998.
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