Floods and drought threaten in coming months

China may simultaneously suffer major floods and severe drought during the coming rainy season, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

"Based on our forecast, the situation is not optimistic," Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying said at a work conference on flood and drought control on Wednesday.

It's highly likely that northern and southern parts of the country will be stricken by floods. "But the floods in the north are forecast to be more severe," he said.

Major floods may occur on seven major watercourses in the north, including the Nenjiang, Heilong and Yellow rivers, he said. In the south, there may be regional floods along the Xijiang River and various smaller rivers in the southeast, as well as the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Central China, however, is expected to be hit by drought, he said, with the middle reaches of the Yangtze and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River among the worst affected.

Precipitation along some sections of the Yellow River and its tributaries may be 20 to 50 percent more than the yearly average, according to the ministry. But downstream of the Hanjiang River, a major tributary of the Yangtze in its middle reaches, precipitation will be 20 to 50 percent less.

The country has markedly improved its flood and drought control capabilities in recent years, Li said, but there are still some weak links.

He said the ministry is confronted with the difficult task of reinforcing small and medium-sized reservoirs that have safety hazards, many of which have no hydrology and safety monitoring facilities.

Li vowed a series of measures to ensure the safety of people's lives and property.

The ministry will enhance its forecasting and early warning work, he said. More drills will be organized, and emergency response plans will be drafted.

Local water resource authorities should beef up efforts to eradicate safety hazards before the rainy season, he said. No reservoirs should be overlooked and the ministry will roll out random inspections of at least 10 percent of reservoirs.

Cai Yang, head of the ministry's information center, said more typhoons are expected to affect the country this year, and they are likely to be stronger than usual.

They may bring torrential rainfall that will swell the Huaihe River and Taihu Lake, pushing their water levels above warning marks, he said.