Dyke bursts in Jiangxi after heavy flooding

Floodwaters have caused the Zhongzhouwei dyke of Poyang county in Central China's Jiangxi province to burst its banks, and more than 8,000 victims have been evacuated to safer areas, according to the provincial Bureau of Emergency Management.

The bureau said torrential rain occurred frequently in the region's Changjiang river valley since July, and the water level has risen rapidly.

On 9 July, the water level of the dyke reached 23.39 meters, 3.89 m above the warning level, and in Gu county near the dyke was 23.43 m, 0.25m higher than the highest water level in 1998, the year the country from a great flood.

The Zhongzhouwei dyke was designed to resist large floods, and protects an area of 23.8 square kilometers of land. Nearly 1,500 hectares of the area is cultivated land. With 15 villages around the area, the dyke has protected 34,000 people from floods.

According to the bureau, more than 500 police, armed police, firefighters and dwellers have been involved in the rescue in Poyang, and over 8,000 people in areas with potential safety hazards have been evacuated and properly settled.

On July 8 Guidaowei, another dyke in the county, was hit by a flood and the banks burst, inundating more than a thousand hectares of cultivated land. The local government has dispatched 600 people for the rescue, and on Thursday morning, 9,000 dwellers threatened by the flood were safely evacuated.

According to the county's Flood Control and Drought Relief Emergency Plan, the local authority has lifted the response level to Level I from level II starting at 1 pm on Thursday.