Sichuan-Tibet highway collapse worsens with rainfall

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-02 17:27

NYINGCHI, Tibet -- A highway collapse in Tibet has reached nearly 100 meters from 30 meters previously after continuous rainfall in the autonomous region in southwest China.

With traffic at a standstill, more than 100 vehicles were redirected to a town 40 km away. The local traffic authority was directing the detour.

As moderate rainfall lashed the Nyingchi prefecture over the past two weeks, this caused a mud flow to block a river close to the highway linking Tibet with the neighboring Sichuan Province on Saturday.

The rising water eroded the roadbed, resulting in the collapse of the 30meter section of road and forcing the suspension of traffic.

More than 10,000 cubic meters of earth along a section in Nyingchi, southeastern Tibet, had caved in as of Tuesday.

More than 120 soldiers were working to create a new road on Tuesday with about 50 meters of the planned 100 meter emergency road completed.

The project was expected to be finished in three days if weather conditions turned favorable, said Sun Hongjun, an armed police officer in charge of the project.

August is a particularly wet time of the year in Tibet. Rainfall in the mountainous region increased by 30 percent in the first half of the year compared with normal levels, bringing risk to road maintenance and transport.