Premier Li stresses protecting lives in flood zone

Premier Li Keqiang visits Wuhan's Yangtze River embankment on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. [Photo by Pang Xinglei/Xinhua]

Premier Li made a non-stop visit to Fuyang in Anhui province, Yueyang in Hunan province and Wuhan in Hubei province on July 5 -6 ,to inspect flood control and rescue and relief work in areas along the Yangtze River and Huaihe River.

This year's flood season started earlier, with intense and large-scale heavy rainfall of long duration. To ensure major rivers and lakes are safe during the flood season and protect people's lives and properties is of extreme importance. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to this work. General Secretary Xi Jinping and other leaders of the central leadership have given important instructions and directives. Relevant departments of different parts of China have made solid efforts for flood prevention and control.

The Huaihe River is a disaster-prone area, historically. Premier Li visited the Wangjiaba Dam in Fuyang, Anhui province. The dam is known as "the most important dam on the 1,000-kilometer-long Huaihe River".

He carefully observed water coming from upstream, inquired about developments in the flood situation, and asked working personnel to stay vigilant to such changes and make accurate and timely forecasts based on monitoring. Premier Li also heard briefings from the head of the Huaihe River Water Conservancy Commission. He said that July and August are critical months for flood control.

"The harder battle is yet to come. The Commission should always bear safety in mind and never slacken efforts. It should work in a well-coordinated way between the upper stream and lower stream, make good preparation for various kinds of emergencies and gain the initiative in flood control and disaster relief", Li said.

When visiting Zhengtaizi embankment in the Mengwa flood storage area, Premier Li asked local residents about their production and living conditions, as well as food and drug preparation for the flood season.

He inquired about measures taken to ensure that the embankment is strong enough. He told local officials that they are in charge of a critical area for flood control in Huaihe River. They need to make sure that priority is always given to people's lives and property, work in advance, and put in place safeguards to make people more confident that they will prevail over the disaster.

Li said that "the Party and the government will continue to give more support and make sure that the flood storage lowland does not become a lowland for people's livelihoods".