Photo taken on July 21, 2016 shows a dike breach of Hanbei River in Tianmen City, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)
A section of a major north-south national highway was flooded after the breach of a dike along a branch of the Yangtze River in central China's Hubei Province Thursday.
Traffic was disrupted temporarily as floodwater has begun to flow onto a local section -- around Bayi Bridge of National Highway 107, said the latest information from Xiaogan City Administration for Public Security and Transportation.
At around noon, the Fuhuan River was found to have broken through the section of the dike near Dongshantou School in the city of Xiaogan, Hubei Province, which led to the flooding of the Bayi Bridge section of the national highway, according to the local sources.
The school is closed for summer vacation. National Highway 107 connects the Chinese national capital of Beijing and Shenzhen, a boomtown in south China's Guangdong Province.
Armed police are rushing to relocate residents and build an embankment to hold back floodwater and protect the national highway from further flooding, said local sources.
This was the second dike breach in Hubei Thursday. At 9 a.m.,it was discovered that the Hanbei River had punched a gap some 30 meters wide in an embankment, flooding a large area of farmland.
No casualties have been reported yet.