China: Death toll in reservoir breach rises to 10

[Ray]

Death toll in reservoir breach rises to 10

DAISHAN, Zhejiang - The death toll from a flood that occurred Friday morning following a dam breach in the city of Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province has risen to 10, local rescuers said.

Soldiers conduct search and rescue work in the collapsed houses ruined by flood that occurred Friday morning following a dam breach in the city of Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province, Aug 10, 2012.

The flood also injured 27 people, said officials with the county information office.

The 28.5-meter-high dam of the Shenjiakeng Reservoir, a rainwater pooling dam in Daishan county, collapsed around 5 am, officials said.

Provincial authorities have vowed to make all-out efforts to locate the missing. An expert team has arrived at the site to repair the dam, they said.

Zhejiang has been lashed by downpours over the last few days with the arrival of typhoon Haikui, which landed in the province early Wednesday morning before moving into neighboring Anhui province.

Soldiers conduct search and rescue work in the flood that occurred Friday morning following a dam breach in the city of Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province, Aug 10, 2012.

Houses are wrecked by flood that occurred Friday morning following a dam breach in the city of Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province, Aug 10, 2012.

Rescuers help a man from a flooded area following a dam breach in the city of Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province, Aug 10, 2012.

Death toll in reservoir breach rises to 10[2]|chinadaily.com.cn

Very sad.

These dams are double edged.

They help the country immensely, but if there is a breach, then there is havoc.

One should inspect these dams all the time so that there is no chance of a breach.

 

[Ray]

China urged to guard against extreme weather

A top meteorological official has urged authorities to guard against extreme weather in China during the coming months, as unusually warm ocean temperatures caused by El Nino will impact seasonal weather patterns, state media reported Friday.

China has been under the influence of El Nino since July and will continue to feel its effects into the fall, China National Radio quoted Zheng Guoguang, director of the China Meteorological Administration, as saying.

Under El Nino, heavy rains are likely to hit the middle and eastern parts of China this August, according to Zheng, who called for strengthened flood control efforts in the Haihe River Basin in North China and along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers.

Local authorities in areas south of the Yangtze River should also take precautions against summer droughts and arid weather, Zheng said.

Lower-than-average rainfall and higher temperatures will appear in the fall, except in the northern parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and the northeastern provinces, said Zheng.

Zheng said El Nino is not to blame for the recent typhoons and will actually lead to weaker typhoon activity after the autumn season.

Typhoon Haikui, which made landfall in the coastal province of Zhejiang at 3:20 am Wednesday, has brought heavy downpours to East China and left three people dead as of Thursday.

It was the third typhoon to wallop China's eastern coast in a week, after storms Saola and Damrey hit the region over last weekend.

El Nino, characterized by an abnormal warming of the sea surface in the Equatorial Pacific, can cause exceptionally heavy rainfall in some parts of the globe and extreme droughts in others.

El Nino conditions occur every two to seven years, with stronger events generally occurring every 10 to 15 years. El Nino is believed to have played a major role in weather changes that caused devastating deluges in China in 1998.

China urged to guard against extreme weather |Society |chinadaily.com.cn

 

[huaxia rox]

need to probe if its mainly due to extremely bad weather or corruption which created a shoddy dam....or because people in charge of maintainning the dam made some serious mistakes....

 

[Ray]

The weather this year has been crazy!

Older dams are at risk everywhere.