Dinosaur excavations inundated in China

Flooding in northeast China has inundated world-renowned dinosaur excavation sites, authorities said Friday.

A 70-meter-wide breach of an embankment on the Heilong River in Tongjiang City, Heilongjiang Province flooded nearby villages around 8:30 a.m. Friday, said Wang Bin, a local official.

More than 16,000 residents were evacuated on Monday in anticipation of the flooding, said Wang and there have been no casualties.

The Heilong River has been rising for more than a week. Early Thursday, a 20-meter-wide breach was reported at a section of the river in Luobei County, but there were no casualties, thanks to prompt evacuation.

Four dinosaur excavation sites at the foot of the mountains in Jiayin County, Heilongjiang, have been flooded by water from the Heilong River, Liu Min, director of the Dinosaur National Geology Park's administration center, told Xinhua on Friday.

There are still dinosaur fossils at the sites, which could come loose and be washed away if they are soaked for a long period of time, said a member of the park staff.

The fossils can never be replaced and the losses caused by the flood would be incalculable, said the worker.

In recent years, the county has built dikes near the mountains, but they failed to resist the current flood, said Liu.

The park opened to visitors in 2002 and several hundred fossilized dinosaur skeletons are believed to be still buried underground.

Flooding from the river has also hit the Heilong River Basin Museum on an island in Luobei County.

Water began to enter the museum on Aug. 17 and is now more than one meter deep in some first floor rooms.

More than 2,000 documents from the first floor have been moved to the second floor, said Zhao Yong, curator of the museum.

The water level of the Heilong River in Luobei was 2.01 meters higher than the warning level, surpassing the previous 1984 record by 24 cm.