China's largest fresh water lake hits record-high water level

NANCHANG - Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake located in the eastern province of Jiangxi, has seen its water level rise to a record high at midnight Sunday, according to the provincial department of water resources.

At around 12:00 am Sunday, the water level at the lake's Xingzi hydrological station rose to 22.53 meters, 0.01 meters higher than the record in 1998, and continued going up, said the department.

A recent round of rainfall and upstream inflows has led to a sharp rise in the river water level in Jiangxi. The incessant downpours have also pushed the lake water to exceed warning levels since July 5.

So far, 34 hydrological stations in the province have seen water currents exceed warning levels.

Xu Weiming, secretary-general with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters, said the lake area had seen significant improvement in the embankment and flood-resistant equipment compared with 1998 when a devastating flood occurred along the Yangtze River.

"We will put the safety of people's lives in priority and make every effort to battle against the historic floods," he added.

The Changjiang Water Resources Commission issued a red alert for floods in the Poyang Lake area on July 10, and a day later, Jiangxi Province raised its flood-control response from level II to level I, the top level of China's four-tier emergency response for floods.

Floods since July 6 have affected over 5.2 million people in the province, with 432,000 people evacuated from flood-prone areas. A total of 167,000 people are in urgent need of living assistance, according to the local flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The floods have damaged over 455,700 hectares of crops and caused a direct economic loss of 6.49 billion yuan ($930 million).

On Saturday, more than 53,300 people were mobilized in fighting the floods in Jiangxi, aided by 1,545 sets of mechanical equipment, said the headquarters.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, the country has allocated a batch of supplies, including 190 boats, 3,000 tents, 10,000 folding beds, 10,000 blankets and 20,000 quilts to help with local flood control and disaster relief.