Five people die as Chinese attempt to tackle rising floods

FIVE people have died and more than 370,000 have been evacuated as huge holes were blown in dykes in east China to tackle flood waters that are at record highs, officials said yesterday.

More than 21 million people are affected in Anhui province alone with economic losses put at 4.8 billion yen (€510m).

The China News Service said 32,000 homes had collapsed and another 120,000 were damaged.

Seven controlled explosions on dykes on the Huaihe river in Anhui took place to release water that has been rising since late June into flood diversion areas, the Xinhua news agency said.

The raging torrents of water also submerged roads and farmland in the major grain producing belt.

A flood control official said that at least five people had died in the floods so far and more than 5,000 had been injured or had become ill.

“Until now five people have been killed and 5,371 people have either been injured or have got disease,” said Wang Hua, an official in the disaster relief section of the Anhui Department of Civil Affairs, adding that 370,000 people have been relocated.

“These people lived in the areas threatened by flooding or in the flood discharge areas,” he said.

Twenty-one million people in Anhui have been affected by the flooding, of which 14 million are suffering seriously from the rising waters, he said, adding that millions of hectares of farmland had been ruined.

The river has been running at more than 26 metres (86 feet), prompting President Hu Jintao to demand that dikes must not be breached.

He told the officials “to give top priority to the protection of people's lives during the ongoing fight against flood waters” and to do everything possible to prevent the outbreak of disease. More than 870,000 workers have been deployed to fight the floods and reinforce dykes along the Yangtze river and other stretches of the threatened Huaihe, a tributary of the Yangtze.

According to Xinhua, many of those evacuated are living in makeshift shelters in schools or factories.

At least 25,000 are in tents and a massive relief effort has swung into action to provide food and medicines.

A state of emergency was declared at midnight on Friday in the region where it is forecast rain will continue for several days.

China’s flood season usually starts around June and heavy rains are affecting large swathes of the country.

In northern Jilin province, work is underway to reinforce 38 reservoirs while life vests, life boats, and emergency power supply equipment has been made available.

Flood waters are also reaching danger levels in China’s second largest freshwater reservoir in central Hunan province.

Earlier this month, official media said rains in the south of the country had left at least 148 people dead and affected 45 million.