July 11, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 25, 1428

BEIJING: China was evacuating 150,000 people on Tuesday from villages in eastern China that may have to be deliberately flooded to combat torrential rains which have led to the deaths of more than 100 people nationwide.

Flood waters will be diverted into the Mengwa flood reserve near Fuyang in the eastern province of Anhui if and when the level of the swollen Huai River exceeds 29.3 metres, expected on Tuesday afternoon, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.

Anhui provincial government has ordered authorities in the Mengwa area, with its 75 villages, to evacuate villagers, the headquarters said. “Some 131 areas of higher ground to shelter the evacuated villagers will become isolated islands once the floodgates are opened,” the People's Daily said.

The water release has to be carried out when the water level at the Wangjiaba embankment hits 29.3 metres, and that level had already reached 29.22 metres by early Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Eleven people have been killed in floods in Anhui so far and over 430,000 residents were stranded, a quarter of them facing drinking water shortages, Xinhua said.

The heavy rain has caused floods and landslides which have killed at least 101 people in at least six provinces since late June, the People's Daily said. At least 26 people were missing.—Reuters