Hangzhou prepares to battle flooding disasters

Authorities in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, have prepared to prevent possible secondary disasters, including flash floods and mountain landslides, caused by continuous heavy downpours.

According to the city's flood control department, more than 27,800 people living in low-lying areas had been evacuated to safety as of Monday.

Hangzhou's meteorological department has forecast heavy rainfall until Thursday, with a high risk of flooding in the district of Lin'an, Jiande city, and Chun'an county.

Hangzhou has opened 2,557 emergency shelters, which provide flood victims with enough food, drinking water and bedding, authorities said.

Ma Zhiyan, a Qingshandian villager in Lin'an, said a mudslide caused by heavy rainfall blocked the village's drainage ditch, causing floods in the village.

She said a village official had to jump into the floodwater to help dredge the ditch on Monday.

Many passenger trains linking Hangzhou, Wenzhou and Ningbo and other flood-hit cities with other parts of Zhejiang were canceled on Monday, stranding many passengers.

To help fight the flood, the Xin'anjiang Reservoir in Hangzhou began to release water on Sunday after the level had risen above the warning line, authorities said.

Evacuations of people living in low-lying areas in Hangzhou's Fuyang district, Tonglu county and Jiande city, situated along the Qiantang River, had begun in previous days for safety reasons, authorities said.

They have required relevant departments to prepare to evacuate residents and strengthen inspections of river dikes.

As of Tuesday morning, relevant departments had sent 161 rescue teams consisting of 4,260 personnel, along with 3,620 pieces of large rescue equipment to help combat the floods, authorities said.

In central China's Hunan province, flooding has affected about 600,000 residents in 14 cities and prefectures, with more than 55,000 people having been evacuated or relocated so far, the provincial flood control headquarters said on Tuesday.

As of Monday, Hunan had accumulated 688 millimeters of precipitation since the flood season began, 29.5 percent more than the average for the same period in previous years.

Local meteorological and hydrological departments have forecast the province will continue to experience downpours and storms in the coming two weeks, leading to a significant rise in water levels of the Xiangjiang, Zijiang, Yuanjiang and Lishui rivers and Dongting Lake.

Flood control departments have been urged to introduce effective measures to prevent and fight flooding in some tributaries of the Xiangjiang and Zijiang rivers, and the Miluo River in the Dongting Lake area.

The provincial flood control department has told all regions to ensure the safety of people's lives to the greatest extent possible in the fight against flood disasters.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, 33 rivers in the provinces of Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guizhou and Heilongjiang experienced floods exceeding the warning levels from 8 am on Sunday to 8 am on Monday.