Beijing - The homes and lives of millions of Chinese are under threat from the worst floods on the Yangtze river for more than 40 years, Beijing said yesterday. The massive Three Gorges Dam project, now at a critical stage of construction, has also been at risk, and almost all river traffic has been halted.
President Jiang Zemin has intervened personally to order reinforcement of river dykes in the central Yangtze region. The official Chinese press is complaining that warnings of disaster have been ignored, and that corrupt local officials have misappropriated flood control funds.
More than 134,000 people are reported homeless in rural Boyang county near the city of Jiujiang.
In the three river provinces of Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi, 157 deaths have been confirmed; 29 towns have so far been flooded; three railways have been cut off and 450,000 houses destroyed.