China's Yangtze River sees first flood of 2024

BEIJING, June 28 -- China's Yangtze River is experiencing its 2024 "No.1 Flood", according to the Ministry of Water Resources, as the water level at Jiujiang hydrological station, one of the major monitoring spots for the mainstream's water level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, has risen to 20 meters, reaching the warning level at 2 p.m. Friday.

Affected by persistent heavy rainfalls, multiple tributaries connected to Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, China's two largest freshwater lakes, have seen major flooding.

The ministry has raised the emergency responses to the flooding to Level III in the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan on Friday, and urgently sent four additional working teams to the front line to provide guidance to the flood relief.

China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Friday raised the emergency response to flooding to Level-III in Hubei Province.

In east China's Anhui Province, the provincial authorities activated red alerts for geological disasters and mountain torrents in six county-level areas in the cities of Lu'an and Anqing, expecting a high probability of geological disasters and mountain torrents from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 p.m. Saturday.

The provincial meteorological observatory forecast torrential rains from Friday to Saturday in many parts of the province, with the rainfall expected to exceed 300 mm in some areas.

In the neighboring Hubei Province, the provincial flood control and drought relief office raised the emergency response for flood from Level IV to Level III at 4 p.m. Friday.

Heavy rainstorms since June 21 have disrupted the lives of 417,100 residents in 28 county-level areas in Hubei. Supplies for disaster relief have been urgently allocated to the relevant places, according to the provincial emergency management department.

China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I being the most urgent response, and a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.