Shangzhi County in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has stepped up emergency responses as Typhoon Bavi, the ninth typhoon of the year, brings continuous rainfall, pushing local rivers above warning levels.
Mayi River in the county, a tributary of the Songhua River, experienced its first flooding this year at 2:36 on Monday, and the flood peak passed through the county about seven hours later.
Other rivers in the county have also recorded varying degrees of water level rise. In response, local authorities have reinforced at-risk sections by placing sandbags to build temporary dikes and reduce the risk of overflow.
"If there is no heavy rain or widespread precipitation, this area is almost dry. We have stocked more than 36,000 sandbags at least half a month in advance under our contingency plan," said Wang Yuancheng, a local official.
As of 8:00 Tuesday, the water level at the Shangzhi Hydrological Station on the Mayi River had fallen to 183.67 meters, down 1.43 meters from the peak flood level of 185.10 meters, returning to below the warning level.
Typhoon Bavi landed on the coast of east China's Zhejiang Province at around 23:20 Saturday, according to the Zhejiang provincial meteorological observatory.
The typhoon, with the maximum wind force at its center reaching 40 meters per second when landing, first churned ashore at Yuhuan City, a county-level city administered by the city of Taizhou, before making a second landfall in Yueqing City under the city of Wenzhou at around midnight.
After landfall, the typhoon is expected to continue moving northwestward while weakening.
Northeast China county braces for Typhoon Bavi, flood
