Water level of 12 rivers in China exceeds warning level

BEIJING -- China's Ministry of Water Resources said Sunday that the water level of 12 rivers across the country exceeded the warning level due to heavy rainfall from Thursday to Saturday.

The rivers are located in the provincial-level regions of Jiangsu, Liaoning, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, according to the ministry.

Heavy rains affected parts of southwest China, regions between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, areas between the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, Northeast China and Hubei province over the three-day period.

Rainstorms are expected to lash parts of Shanghai, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Jilin on Sunday. The water levels of some small and medium-sized rivers may exceed the warning level, the ministry said.

It has launched a Level IV emergency response to flooding in nine provincial-level regions, including Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Jilin.

China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level I being the strongest response.