Image courtesy of  RADARSAT International Inc.
Enhancement and interpretation by Terry Pultz, CCRS
and Jennifer Sokol, Noetix Research
© Canadian Space Agency, 1998

This image shows flooding on the Yangtze River, China. The RADARSAT ScanSAR Narrow data were acquired on August 12, 1998 at 6:20 AM local time. Scientists at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing geocoded, enhanced and classified the RADARSAT data with respect to areas inundated by water. GIS data were overlaid on the RADARSAT image to provide a map reference for normal water levels. The resulting image displays non-flooded areas in grey tones, normal waters levels in dark blue, flooded areas in light blue and the urban area of the city of Wuhan in red.

WUHAN, Hubei Province -- The fourth flood crest from the upper reaches of the Yangtze passed through the city, the most important industrial centre in Central China, without incident at midnight yesterday, thanks to intensive efforts by tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.

The city's 286 kilometres of levees along the main stream of the Yangtze stood up to the trial and remained intact though the water level hit 29.39 metres -- the second highest figure registered in the 133 years since Wuhan's hydrological records began.

But experts are cautioning against any complacency and urging the need for constant efforts because the levees, water-logged for more than 40 days, are very vulnerable.

In East China's Jiujiang city, a 4,000-metre long embankment was built up as the second line of defence to protect the city's 500,000 residents after more than 40 metres of the Yangtze levees were ruptured.

In Northeast China, torrential rains had pushed the Nenjiang River and its tributaries to dangerously high levels yesterday, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

The flooding has affected Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces in the northeast and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north.

Date: 08/11/98
Author: Liang Chao
© China Daily