Northern China deploys rarely used tool to detain flood

A batch of rarely used flood detention areas in northern China have been put into operation as downpours brought by Typhoon Doksuri swell many water bodies above their danger marks and triggered the highest level emergency response for flood control in some regions.

As of 7 am on Tuesday, five flood detention areas in the Haihe River basin have been put into use, according to the Haihe River Water Conservancy Commission, the authority that oversees water resources management in the basin.

The commission decided to resort to these areas for flood storage as constant afflux of rainwater pour into water bodies in the basin in an accelerated manner, resulting in increasingly greater pressure on flood control work, the commission said on Tuesday.

The deluge is so severe in Tianjin, where Haihe is located, that local authorities raised emergency response for flood control from Level III to Level I, the highest in the country's four-tier emergency response mechanism, at 1 am on Tuesday.

Flood control authorities in Hebei province also decided to lift the sluice gates for Langouwa flood detention area as increasing amount of flooding water flows into the Daqing River in the province.

The use of Langouwa, which stretches for 228 square kilometers and can store 323 million cubic meters of water, will help relieve the flood control pressure in the Xiong'an New Area, as well as some water bodies in the downstream of Daqing, the Ministry of Water Resources said in a media release on Tuesday.

The ministry had ordered Hebei authorities to evacuate all residents in the flood detention area before it started to receive deluge, the ministry said, without disclosing how many people were involved in the urgent evacuation.