"we must anticipate big disasters" china flood killed more than 700 people

Flooding in China that has killed more than 700 people this year However officials, in the first high-level media briefing on weeks of deadly flooding plaguing much of the country's southern half, said a disaster on the scale of historic 1998 flooding on the Yangtze River would likely be averted.A total of 701 people have died so far this year in flooding that has also left 347 people missing, Liu Ning, head of the country's flood control authority and vice-minister of water resources.the annual rainy season would continue at least through August, and that more downpours were expected, further straining reservoirs and other water control projects, especially as the East Asian typhoon season has just begun.During this period there will be heavy rainfall and serious floods. The rainfall will continue.meteorologists expected heavy rains could spread to northern China, possibly causing flooding along major rivers such as the Huai, Yellow and Songhua.In these rivers they haven't seen major floods in many years and they are very likely to see some soon. So we must anticipate big disasters.Tens of thousands of homes and other structures have been destroyed in floods and landslides, and economic losses have hit at least 142 billion yuan ($A23.8 billion), with 110 million people affected.The number of deaths and figures for damage are China's worst in 10 years.The floods have dominated the country's attention for weeks, with state television each day broadcasting dramatic images of villagers being rescued from raging rivers or plucked from rooftops in inundated villages.The situation has triggered fears China could see a repeat of the disastrous flooding of 1998, when heavy rain swelled the Yangtze, China's longest river, and many tributaries, leading to a series of devastating levee collapses.At least 4150 people were believed to have died, 18 million were evacuated and millions of homes were destroyed in the floods, the country's worst in recent memory.rainfall levels, although extremely high, have remained 20 per cent lower than those of 1998.And although the upper reaches of the Yangtze drainage basin have seen the highest flood peak since 1987,the dam would prevent flood surges on the river's upper and lower reaches from "converging" as they did in 1998.the government was now feverishly co-ordinating the release of water by dams throughout the region to maintain a smooth flow.The Three Gorges Dam is now playing an effective role in flood control.