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China Could Face Worse Flooding Than Last Year
Chinese officials have warned citizens living near major rivers to brace for a repeat, or worse, of the deadly floods that hit China in 1998.
Start Date: 4/25/99
China's record floods of 1998 could be topped in 1999, officials warn. Ironically, the situation is made worse by the fact that China is in the midst of a severe drought.
According to the Associated Press of April 21, 1999, last year's floods along the Yangtze River killed 4,125 people and left millions homeless. This year, the worst drought in more than a decade has parched the ground so hard that rain, when it comes, will simply wash away rather than sink in. Yangtze River water resources director Li Antian says that could lead to higher river levels than last year, especially along the river's upper reaches in mountainous central China.
Li and other officials are calling on towns and provinces along China's longest river to get ready as quickly as possible.
China has spent $2.4 billion on emergency flood-control projects since last year, when the Yangtze burst through dikes and forced 13.8 million people from their homes. But communities may be even more vulnerable this year because many have yet to finish repairing dikes destroyed by last year's floods.
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