Yangtze death toll hits 2,500 with losses at HK$37 billion

[South China Morning Post, July 30, 1998]

The death toll from the Yangtze floods has climbed to 2,500, while at least three dykes were reported breached yesterday leaving some villages in Hubei province swamped.

The new toll, reported by Xinhua, is almost double the 1,270 issued on Friday. Xinhua did not say where the deaths occurred, but losses in Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi were estimated at 39.7 billion yuan (HK$37.1 billion).

The agency quoted the Civil Affairs Ministry as saying 37.4 million people had been affected, with 2.7 million hectares of farmland damaged.

Hunan sustained the heaviest losses, estimated at 15.1 billion yuan. Witnesses said several villages near Honghu city, Hubei province, were covered by two metres of water but most villagers managed to flee to safety.

``So far as we know, dykes were reported breached on at least three weirs near Honghu, Xiantao and Wuxue in Hubei while the flood peak was passing through them,'' China Daily quoted hydrological engineer Ge Shouxi as saying.

The central authorities had donated one million yuan to the residents of Honghu, Xinhua said. Officials in Honghu, Xiantao and Wuxue denied there was serious damage or casualties from the dyke breaches.

The flood crest passed through Wuhan safely on Tuesday night after being blunted by upstream breaches before it hit the industrial hub, said Mr Ge, of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission.

Water levels began to fall at 4am after peaking at 28.96 metres, allowing Wuhan's seven million residents to breathe a sigh of relief. But last night, levels reached a dangerously high 29.04 metres.

Xinhua quoted Hou Yingjie, head of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, as saying dykes remained largely intact.