RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
The rainy season arrived in China with a roar. Continuous downpours have lashed large parts of south China since June and many rivers have exceeded alert levels.
In late July, the main rain belt began to move north from the Yangtze River basin to the Huaihe River basin. The Huaihe, one of China’s major waterways, runs through the east between the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. According to the Huaihe River Commission under the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), the water level at the Wangjiaba hydrological station on the main course of the river rose to 29.66 meters on July 20, exceeding the upper safety limit.
The highest level of emergency flood control response along the Huaihe was activated and to relieve pressure on downstream areas, floodwater was diverted through the Wangjiaba sluice gates into the Mengwa Flood Detention Area in Funan County, Anhui Province in east China, on the same day.
The upper reaches
