Tuesday, 20 August, 2002

Officials fear the worst floods in years

More than 10 million people are under threat from potentially devastating floods, as water levels in central China's massive Dongting Lake continue to rise.

With more torrential rain forecast in the coming days, and swollen rivers already emptying into the lake, officials fear it could burst its banks, flooding millions of homes and 667,000 hectares (1.6 million acres) of fertile farmland.

Dongting, in the southern province of Hunan, acts as a giant overflow for the flood-prone Yangtze River.

When the Yangtze and the Dongting last broke their banks in 1998, more than 4,000 people were killed. There are fears even more people could perish this year.

Landslides and flash floods caused by torrential rain have already killed more than 100 people in southern China in the past two weeks alone, bringing this year's death toll close to 1,000.

Tropical storm

At 0800 (0000 GMT) on Tuesday, the water in Dongting Lake was almost 1.5 metres (five feet) above the 32 metre (106 foot) flood warning marks, said an official from the anti-flood bureau of nearby Changde city.

Experts warn the water level is likely to rise still further, and local authorities have mobilised thousands of people to man the lake's embankments around the clock.

To add to concerns, meteorologists have warned that the tropical storm Vongfong could dump yet more torrential rain over the province of Hunan as it moves across the country.

Landslides have claimed lives in Yunnan

Vongfong - named after an insect that inflicts a painful sting - hit the southern province of Guangdong on Monday evening and was gradually moving north-east, the Central Meteorological Bureau in Beijing said.

As it moves across the country it is expected to bring heavy rain to Guangdong and Guangxi provinces as well as Hunan, forecasters said.

The storm has already brought torrential rain to southern China during Monday and Tuesday, stranding air and rail passengers but causing no reported casualties, reports said.

The southern island province of Hainan was battered through Monday, with 113 flights delayed and more than 3,000 passengers stranded, the official China New Service said.

The flood season started early this year, with flash floods and landslides killing hundreds in June. The situation then abated, but the floods have worsened again over the past fortnight.

Wider problem

Many other Asian countries have also been affected by heavy flooding.

At least 900 people have died since the middle of July in eastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh after heavy monsoon rains triggered widespread flooding, landslides and disease.

Many Indians have been displaced by floods

The flood control minister of India's Assam state, Nurjamal Sarkar, said thousands of homes had been destroyed by the flood waters.

In Cambodia, water levels on the Mekong river rose to above emergency levels in two central towns following heavy rain in the north-east of the country. Laos was also hit by floods.

Disaster teams were given a brief respite in the north of Vietnam when the Vongfong storm skirted the region, giving them time to reach some of the areas affected by recent flooding.

More than 25 people died in flash floods in the region bordering China, in four days of flooding that swept away houses, bridges and roads and triggered landslides, in what is considered Vietnam's worst flooding in six years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2194468.stm