China raises emergency response level for floods in northeast
Authorities in northeastern China raised their emergency response level on Sunday as tributaries of the Songhua, a major river, rose to dangerous levels after days of heavy rain caused by Typhoon Doksuri.
China‘s Ministry of Water Resources said it raised the response for flooding to Level III at 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) in Inner Mongolia, Jilin and Heilongjiang. China uses a four-tier emergency response system, with Level I the most urgent.
Heilongjiang, known as China‘s “great northern granary”, is among the latest areas to suffer the aftermath of Doksuri, which has killed at least 20 people, displaced thousands and flooded Beijing and several other cities since it made landfall in the south a week ago.
China on Sunday allocated an additional 350 million yuan ($48.8 million) to support rescues and house repairs in the flood-hit regions including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Heilongjiang and Jilin, according to a government statement.
The government had previously allocated 170 million yuan for rescue and recovery work.