China sets up relief fund for flooded areas

The central government set aside 232 million yuan (22.2 million euros) on Wednesday to help the ongoing battle against floods in Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei and Sichuan provinces.

The country's top leaders also called on local governments to try to improve weather monitoring, give priority to safety and properly relocate people in affected areas, a CRI Nordic report said.

Cheng Dianlong, deputy director of the office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said that the relief fund will be used for the relocation of residents from the Mengwa Buffer Zone. The area had been deliberately flooded on Tuesday to help ease the swollen Huaihe river.

CRI Nordic said that the operations have had little effect, as the water level at the Wangjiaba was still 29.59 meters at 4am on Wednesday.

The Relief Headquarters sent 100 rubber boats, 900,000 woven sacks and 800,000 water-proof knitted fabric garments yesterday to the flood-hit areas, at the request of their corresponding departments in Anhui and Jiangsu.

Cheng said that this was the second worst flood on the Huaihe river since 1954, with water levels rising to 2 to 3.5 meters above their warning level.

Figures from CRI Nordic say that 488,400 people have been evacuated from areas that will likely be flooded by the Huaihe river, including 343,900 from Anhui province.

More than half a million people have also been mobilized to patrol water dams and riverbanks around-the-clock to detect and prevent dangerous conditions. On Wednesday, 12 new risky conditions were detected.

In the Yangtze river valley, 658 people were evacuated by four helicopters in Longchang County in Sichuan province. The 3,700 people trapped by flood waters in Luxian County have all been safely rescued and relocated.

The water level along the Yangtze has reportedly been receding.