Breached dike successfully stemmed in East China

NANCHANG - A dike with a 188-meter break, caused by floods in East China's Jiangxi province, was successfully sealed on Saturday.

The Zhongzhou dike, situated around China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, in Changzhou township of Poyang county, extends 33.72 km. It protects 34,000 local residents and more than 1,400 hectares of farmland along the waterway.

As incessant and intense downpours battered the region, floods swelled the lake and rivers, breaching a 188-meter section of embankment on the night of July 9. A total of 15 villages and farmlands along the waterway were inundated by floodwaters, with over 14,000 residents evacuated to safety on the day.

There were no reports of casualties.

China Anneng Group Second Engineering Bureau Co Ltd deployed more than 200 engineers with equipment to repair the embankment, together with firefighters and other personnel.

The corporation said its emergency workers would continue raising and reinforcing the embankment to ensure its stability.

Nearly 6.88 million people have been affected by rain-triggered floods in Jiangxi since July 6, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters on Friday.

Across the province, 696,000 people were relocated, and 635,700 hectares of crops were damaged, including the destruction of 148,600 hectares of crops as of 5 pm on Friday. The direct economic loss stood at 16.96 billion yuan ($2.4 billion).