The 700-year-old Guanyinge Temple is surrounded by flood water (AFP)
Beijing:
Chinese authorities blew up part of dam in eastern Anhui province to relieve flood pressure, local media reported, while heavy rains continue to swell rivers in parts of the country .
Rising waters in central and eastern China have left more than 140 people dead or missing and the floods have affected nearly 24 million people since the beginning of July, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.
Authorities have adopted measures such as diverting water to emergency reservoirs to maintain manageable levels as major rivers and lakes reach record levels.
In Anhui, a dam on the Chu River was demolished on Sunday as water levels approached historic highs.
Local authorities said measures have been taken to ensure the safety of people living nearby.
“Affected by continuous downpours and upstream flows, the water level of the Chu River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, has gone from a slow rise to a strong one,” local media said on Monday.
Blasting the dam is expected to reduce the level of the Chu River by about 70 centimeters (28 inches), reported the state-run Global Times.
Chinese media said the rejected water was routed to two downstream storage tanks.
A total of 35 rivers and lakes in Anhui saw high water levels exceed alert levels on Saturday midday – including the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers – the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Over the weekend, the Three Gorges Dam also opened three flood gates after the water rose more than 15 meters above the flood level.
Soldiers erected sandbag flood barriers in a city near China’s largest freshwater lake last week after the heaviest rains in nearly six decades flooded the Yangtze River basin .
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
