Yangtze River reaches flood stage for first time this year

An embankment of a river in Wuhan was breached and tens of thousands of villagers were evacuated overnight.

A firefighter carries a resident to safety in Tuhe village, Sandian township, Xinzhou district, Wuhan city, capital of Central China's Hubei province, Saturday, July 2, 2016. The flood breached an embankment of Jushui River in Xinzhou District Friday evening, leaving a 70-meter breach. Nearly 10,000 villagers were evacuated overnight. [Photo/Weibo]

The Yangtze River reached flood stage in its upper reaches for the first time this year on Friday because of heavy rainfall, but the Three Gorges Dam has captured the flow and mitigated flooding downstream, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Head-quarters.

Heavy rains will linger in southern and southwestern regions, affecting the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers until Monday, it said.

Three Gorges Dam, in Yichang, Hubei province, experienced peak inflows of 50,000 cubic meters per second at 2 pm Friday, marking the first flood coming in the Yangtze River in 2016, the flood control headquarters said. But the dam was able to capture much of the water and cut outflow to 31,000 cubic meters per second.

That prevented the sudden rises in water levels for the middle and downstream areas that can be disastrous, the headquarters said on Friday, although flooding was still occurring downstream because of heavy rain in those areas.

The Three Gorges Dam, with the height of 185 meters, usually brings its water level down to 145 meters, a safe level to cope with typical runoff before flood season. The level had risen to a little over 148 meters by 2 pm Friday.

In addition to the Yangtze, the Huaihe River, is drawing warnings from the authorities. People can expect heavy rain until Monday and are urged to prepare for floods, said Zhang Zuqiang, spokesman for the weather administration, on Friday.

"Then the storm front will move north, where it will last from July 6 to 9," Zhang said.

China has experienced 23 percent more rainfall than average since the start of flood season on March 21, making this season the heaviest since 1954, Zhang said.

He added that the vast southern regions have been hit by torrential rains and storms not only more frequently but with greater force.

Xu Wei contributed to this story.