Dam discharge destroys farmer's hard work

XIANTAO, Hubei - With water from Danjiangkou Reservoir due to be discharged on Wednesday afternoon, an elderly man suddenly ran onto farmland and began to pick cotton, his only harvest this year.

"The cotton is all I'm living on this year," 81-year-old Li Wenxiang, a farmer from Dujiatai village, told the police officers who removed him.

A total of 7,610 people have been evacuated from their homes to make way for floodwaters from the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River. The water level in the river has reached 35.6 meters, close to the record of 36.2 meters.