Reservoirs played key role in flood prevention: Ministry

Reservoirs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region played remarkable roles in disaster alleviation as devastating floods saturated the area in late July and early August, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

The 84 medium and large-sized reservoirs in the region held almost 2.9 billion cubic meters of floodwater during the heaviest flooding it has experienced since 1963, said Yao Wenguang, director of the ministry's department of flood and drought disaster prevention, in a news conference on Monday.

These reservoirs helped prevent 500,000 hectares of farmland in 24 towns from being flooded, he said.

If not for them, he said, over 4.6 million people would have had to be evacuated.

Impacted by a Typhoon Doksuri and a cold front, the entire Haihe River Basin, which covers the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, was engulfed by rainfalls from July 28 to Aug 1. The average precipitation in the basin reached 155.3 millimeters, according to the ministry.

Beijing, for instance, received 331 mm of rainwater in just 83 hours, which is about 60 percent of its annual average precipitation, the ministry said.

According to Beijing authorities, the heavy downpours and floods left 33 people dead and 18 missing as of Aug 8.

The ministry said the rainfall swelled 22 rivers in the basin above their warning marks, and eight of them experienced their heaviest floods on record.

The devastating floods triggered a Level I emergency response from the ministry, the highest in China's four-tier emergency response system.