Hunan starts to close breach in China's second-largest freshwater lake

Authorities have started to fill up the breach of a dike along the Dongting Lake in Huarong county of Hunan province, China Central Television reported.

The water level inside the flooded township and the lake has basically leveled, the report said.

The breach, at the dike in Tuanzhou township, Huarong county, under Hunan's Yueyang city, occurred at around 5:48 pm on Friday.

According to a report by Hunan Daily, the closing efforts started at around 3 pm on Saturday. And it is expected to take 100,000 cubic meters of rocks to close the gap.

As of 12 am on Saturday, the breach had widened to about 220 meters and the average depth of the water in the township reached 5 meters, said a separate report by Hunan Daily, citing the Hunan provincial department of emergency management.

A total of 47.64 square kilometers of area, which is equal to 92.5 percent of the total area of the township has been flooded.

The lake is the second-largest fresh water lake in China and connects major rivers of Hunan province with the Yangtze River. A similar breach took place at the township in July 1996.