Officials at the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters yesterday urged caution following floods at Hongze Lake in East China's Jiangsu Province and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Latest information from the headquarters showed that the water levels of all major hydraulic observation stations along the river continued to exceed danger levels.

The Huaihe River mainstream flood crest is approaching the Hongze Lake, prompting its water level to keep rising.

As of 8 am yesterday, the water level at Hongze Lake, located at the lower reaches of the flooding Huaihe River, has reached 14.14 metres, 0.64 metres higher than the danger level and 0.06 metres higher than the record in 1991 when Huaihe River also experienced huge floods.

Some 68,000 people living by Hongze Lake are being urgently evacuated in preparation for the diversion of water from Hongze Lake, China's fourth biggest freshwater lake.

Zhang Zhitong, vice-director of the headquarters said another flood diversion area has been prepared, which will be used to contain flood water discharged from Hongze Lake.

A total of 1,650 railway workers and their families were trapped by flood water yesterday in the western part of Hunan Province, while sections of a railway line were damaged by landslides, local railway officials said.

The workers and their families were trapped when four living quarters owned by Huaihua Railway Group Co were flooded with water up to five meters deep due to continuous rainstorms during the past two days, said the officials.

(China Daily 07/10/2003 page1)