Thousands evacuated

”]By Bill Smith

Beijing (dpa) – China evacuated thousands more people and broke a
dyke to release floodwater Wednesday as several southern regions
fought to control some of the worst floods for decades.

Relief workers evacuated more than 10,000 people from villages in
the south-eastern province of Jiangxi early Wednesday after flash
floods and the overflow of three reservoirs in Poyang county, state
media said.

The workers were rushing to widen emergency channels to divert
some of the water away from villages, the government’s Xinhua news
agency quoted officials as saying.

The Jiangxi meteorological department issued a red alert for
floods early Wednesday, warning of more torrential rain, the agency
said.

In neighbouring Anhui province, troops used explosives on
Wednesday to blast holes in four dykes along the Nitanggou river to
reduce the risk of flooding to a city of 100,000 people.

The water let out from a reservoir on the river would swamp 400
hectares of farmland that was “sacrificed” to safeguard people in
Anhui’s Shipai township, Liu Feiyue, a local government official,
told the agency.

“Shipai township is densely populated. If the dyke bursts, the
consequences would be disastrous,” Liu said.

About 1,000 people living close to the river were evacuated, he
said.

In the three adjoining provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan and Hunan, at
least 37 people died and 37 were missing after several flash floods
and landslides on Tuesday, reports said.

Torrential rain has caused floods and landslides in many parts of
southern China over the past three months.

At least 500 people have died, including more than 100 in the past
week, and hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes
either temporarily or permanently.

Typhoon Conson was also expected to bring more rain after it makes
landfall in the southern province of Guangdong on Thursday or Friday.