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China Reels From Deadly Floods
Updated: 6 hours 8 minutes ago
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, front right, clears away ruins with rescuers in Shuangshang village in Cangwu County.
(July 22) -- China's deadliest flooding in a decade has officials scrambling to respond and has sparked concern about the huge Three Gorges Dam and China's many overtaxed reservoirs.
Floodwaters crested over the massive dam on Tuesday morning, showing the extent of the water rise.
Flooding, downpours and landslides have hit more than half of China's 22 provinces, and so far this year more than 700 people have been killed, with several hundred more missing.
"What's different about this rainfall is that it's very concentrated in the areas that it has hit, and it has fallen in a short period of time," Kuang Yaoqiu, a professor at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, told the Los Angeles Times. "That's why in some areas and rivers the amount of rain has reached historic levels."
The scientist blamed the flooding on low sea temperatures brought by La Nina and predicted heavy rains would continue through August, the Times said.
La Nina refers to a pattern of cooler than normal waters in the Pacific Ocean that "recur every few years and can persist for as long as two years," according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fact sheet.
So far, some 110 million people have been affected by China's flooding, with 645,000 houses collapsed, shipping locks closed and waters higher than warning levels in 230 rivers and at historic highs in two dozen rivers, according to agency reports.
Damages are estimated at $21 billion, according to EastDay.
The Yangcheng Evening News reported Wednesday that one Sichuan Province stretch of the Yangtze River basin was experiencing the biggest floods in 163 years.
Updated: 6 hours 8 minutes ago
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, front right, clears away ruins with rescuers in Shuangshang village in Cangwu County.
(July 22) -- China's deadliest flooding in a decade has officials scrambling to respond and has sparked concern about the huge Three Gorges Dam and China's many overtaxed reservoirs.
Floodwaters crested over the massive dam on Tuesday morning, showing the extent of the water rise.
Flooding, downpours and landslides have hit more than half of China's 22 provinces, and so far this year more than 700 people have been killed, with several hundred more missing.
"What's different about this rainfall is that it's very concentrated in the areas that it has hit, and it has fallen in a short period of time," Kuang Yaoqiu, a professor at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, told the Los Angeles Times. "That's why in some areas and rivers the amount of rain has reached historic levels."
The scientist blamed the flooding on low sea temperatures brought by La Nina and predicted heavy rains would continue through August, the Times said.
La Nina refers to a pattern of cooler than normal waters in the Pacific Ocean that "recur every few years and can persist for as long as two years," according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fact sheet.
So far, some 110 million people have been affected by China's flooding, with 645,000 houses collapsed, shipping locks closed and waters higher than warning levels in 230 rivers and at historic highs in two dozen rivers, according to agency reports.
Damages are estimated at $21 billion, according to EastDay.
The Yangcheng Evening News reported Wednesday that one Sichuan Province stretch of the Yangtze River basin was experiencing the biggest floods in 163 years.
