Chinese troops and militia have joined local residents in Weinan City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, in combating floods on the Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River.?

According to local sources, over 30,000 military personnel stationed inside the city and the militia have been closely monitoring the embankments of the Weihe River to prevent greater losses that might occur if embankments burst.

Information from the Flooding Control Office of Weinan City said the water level of the Weihe River has kept rising. It hit a record high of 342 meters on Monday when the second flood crest reached Huaxian County.

However, the flow of the floodwater was clocked at 3 kilometers per hour, and it is quite dangerous for the embankments along the main stream of the Weihe and its tributaries to be saturated for a long time in the floodwater, said an official from the office.

Bursting has been reported in five places along the embankments of the Weihe River's tributaries from last Sunday to Monday, and over 100,000 residents have been forced to be evacuated to safe ground.

Continuous rain has caused flooding in over 50 rivers in Shaanxi Province since Aug. 24, affecting over one million residents and over 46,667 hectares of cropland. It has caused a direct economic loss of over two billion yuan (about 241 million US dollars), according the provincial flood control department.

In Weinan City alone, the flooding has inundated over 20,000 hectares of low-lying land and has caused more than 300 million yuan (about 36.15 million US dollars) in direct economic losses.

The weather forecast has predicted more rain for most areas in Shaanxi Province in the coming three days and the central areas of the province will even receive torrential rain.

(People's Daily September 2, 2003)