Attempt to fix embankment breach fails in northwest China

2010-07-26 03:08:56 GMT2010-07-26 11:08:56 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English

Photo taken on July 24, 2010 shows the destroyed section of the riverbank of Luofu River in Huayin City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Heavy rainfall from July 23 to July 24 caused a 80-meter-long section of Luofu River bank to burst on Saturday. So far no casualty has been reported. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

HUAYIN, Shaanxi, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers failed to close a breach of a flooding river embankment in northwest China's Shaanxi Province Sunday,rescue headquarters said.

More than 3,000 soldiers and militiamen have been filling the gap of the embankment of Luofu River with stones and sand bags, and managed to narrow the 80-meter gap into 2 meters, said a spokesman at the headquarters.

But the breach expanded again to eight meters wide as stones and sand bags ran out, he said.

Luofu River, a tributary of Weihe River, breached Saturday morning.

A total of 6,404 people from 1,587 households in Huayin had been evacuated before the flood early Saturday. No casualties have been reported.

Torrential rains pounded Huayin City from 8 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday.

EMAIL | PRINT | RSS

Add Your Comments:

Please read our Terms of Service. Messages that harass, abuse or threaten others; have obscene or otherwise objectionable content; have spam, commercial or advertising content or links may be removed.