Cresting river waters menaced a swath of northern China on Monday, threatening to send more people fleeing from the worst flooding in 20 years, which authorities said already had forced a half-million evacuations.
About 510 000 people have left their homes in Shaanxi province because of the overflowing Wei river, according to a provincial official. He gave only his surname, Xu.
He said five million people in 67 counties have been affected, though he did not say what that meant.
More than 100 small villages have been submerged, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Xinhua, reporting from Xi’an, the provincial capital, said the waters were ”posing another serious danger”. Embankments have been damaged and water is reaching the top of sandbag reinforcements, it said.
The worst-hit area, Huaxian county, with a population of 60 000, has experienced serious flooding in recent days, the agency said.
Flood relief authorities were shipping more sandbags in by truck.
Flooding is also plaguing Yellow river communities in the eastern province of Shandong and part of the Han River near the central city of Wuhan.
Dozens have been killed in flooding across China during the past month. Parts of the country’s rivers regularly overflow each year, but officials say 2003 has been particularly challenging, although fatalities remain low in comparison to previous years. — Sapa-AP