N China region on high alert against Yellow River flood threat

HOHHOT, March 11 (Xinhua) -- North China's Inner Mongolia is on high alert against the most severe Yellow River flood threat caused by ice blockage in 40 years as the region's frozen river section began to thaw on Tuesday.

More than 70,000 people in the region have been organized for rescue and disaster relief efforts along the 720-km frozen stretch of the Yellow River, China's second longest, said Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's top flood prevention official Zheng Chunmao.

The People's Liberation Army's air force and artillery troops have also joined the flood prevention operation. Blastings will be carried out if there are any big ice blockages on the river.

Sections of the river freeze and thaw at different times. When an ice run flows to a frozen section, it can become blocked. If the blockage persists, water levels may rise and cause floods and dam bursts, threatening lives and property. The ice-run phenomenon takes place at the start of winter and spring.

The river's ice flood was the heaviest in 40 years, said Zheng. The river's watercourse in the region is holding some 1.8 billion cubic meters of water, 50 percent more than in a normal year. Low-quality dams in certain sections worsened the situation.

The Yellow River in Inner Mongolia began to thaw on Tuesday after a full thawing of the upper stretch in neighboring Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

On Monday, the river's water began to be diverted at 50 cubic meters per second to the Hetao area in Inner Mongolia to relieve floodwater pressure.

The 5,464-km Yellow River originates in Qinghai Province in the northwest and flows through Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong before emptying into the BohaiSea.