Southern China's Guangdong province is on alert for flooding after heavy
rains pounded the area.
The local government has taken action to strengthen reservoirs under
threat from rising waters after torrential downpours across the province Wednesday
and Thursday, Xinhua news agency said.
Northern, central and southeastern parts of Guangdong saw daily rainfalls of
60 to 95 millimeters (2.4 to 3.8 inches) in some places, Xinhua quoted the local
meteorological observatory saying.
Forecasts show heavy rains will hit again with strong winds and possibly hail
in the next two days, said the observatory.
The province has 6,732 reservoirs, with a total volume of more than 40
billion cubic meters (52 billion cubic yards).
The provincial government has urged local authorities to
step up flood-prevention measures and ensure the safety of reservoirs and
people, according to Xinhua.
China's water reservoirs are struggling to cope with higher-than-average
rainfall this year.
Reservoirs Face Threat
Across the country, more rainfall has been reported in major rivers in the
first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2005.
Problems with China's 85,000 reservoirs lie in the way they have been
managed, said Wang Shucheng, minister of water resources, at a national flood
control meeting on Tuesday in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang
Province.
The ability of small hydropower stations, which have seen rapid development
in the past few years, to withstand floods is also a grave concern due to the
lack of proper management, said Wang.
Wang urged local authorities to bear the responsibility of flood control by
laying out plans for flood prevention and control and reinforcing supervision.
Statistics from the Water Resources Ministry show that water in the main
branches of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, China's
three major rivers, saw a 10 to 30 percent increase in the first three months,
over the same period last year.
Large reservoirs in 21 provinces and regions, especially in Northwest China's
Qinghai, and Northeast China's Jilin and Liaoning, have reported higher water
levels than last year.