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CNN Live Today

Dongting Lake Threatens to Burst Levees

Aired August 23, 2002 - 12:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We go now to central China, where all eyes are on a rain-swollen lake. If it overflows the manmade dikes, hundreds of villages will be swamped. Already, more than a quarter of a million people have fled their homes.
For the latest now, from CNN's Jamie FlorCruz who is on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Close to a million volunteers and soldiers in central Hunan province are working around the clock, reinforcing levees and dikes surrounding the Dongting Lake, China's second-largest inland lake, twice the size of Hong Kong. Floodwaters that have saturated the province the past two weeks have pushed the Dongting Lake two meters above its flood warning mark.

Massive flood crests are expected to hit the lake in next few days, threatening to burst its banks. Flooding has already exacted a heavy toll on the people's lives. Nearly 300,000 people have been evacuated, their homes destroyed or inundated. Some 90,000 hectares of farmland have been totally destroyed.

Emergency workers in Hunan province are hoping the current clear weather would give them enough time to buttress the levees adequately. Should the Dongting Lake burst its banks, some 10 million people who live around it will face unimaginable disaster.

Jamie FlorCruz, CNN, Yuayong (ph), China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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