For more on the flooding, we are joined in the studio by CCTV's Jin Yingqiao.
Q1. First of all, tell us what is causing this round of rain and flooding?
Multiple factors playing together. The China Meteorological Bureau has pointed to four major features. First, flood season in southern China came 16 days earlier than usual. Since then, the national average precipitation rate is 23 percent higher than normal actually the highest since 1954. Secondly, stronger and more rounds of torrential rain. There have been at least 20 rounds of torrential rain in the south again, record-breaking.
The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river are hit the hardest. Why? Experts blame monsoonal winds from the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal continuously bringing moisture up north. Along with weak cold air from the north, the south is being battered non-stop. The cold and warm humid air meet over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river, hence the stable and persistent rain belt.
Q2. We know in 1998, there was disastrous flooding across the Yangtze river, which killed over three thousand people. Does this round of flooding resemble then?
Well, there's one big similarity in that in both years the El Nino phenomenon caused more rain in the south. But experts are saying the floods this year are not as severe. The 1998 flood covered all of the Yangtze river, with torrential rain hitting a large region. But this year, the rains come one after another, not as concentrated as in 1998.
Well, the rain belt since Tuesday has started to move uppper stream to Sichuan. Also, after 1998, a series of projects were completed to prevent floods, such the Three Gorges Dam. So one expert says even if there's the same amount of rains again, the floods wouldn't be as severe. And lastly, most of the river dams that didn't withstand the floods were in small rivers, as opposed to the main Yangtze river. Small dams have low standards for flood prevention.
And when young people in the rural areas leave to work in the cities, dams are left without maintenance. One expert says that with rapid urbanization after 1998, the flow of water through rivers and lakes was disrupted, while infrastructure is also greatly lacking.
