Province raises its emergency response to Level I for first time amid grim situation
Sichuan province raised its flood-control response to Level I at 5 am on Tuesday, the highest of its four-tier emergency response system.
This is the first time the province has ever triggered a Level I response for floods, according to Sichuan's flood control and drought relief headquarters.
Sichuan faced a grim flood situation, with the Ya'an city section of the Qingyi River, seeing its worst flooding in a century, the headquarters said.
The entire Qingyi River basin, along with the Minjiang River-a Yangtze tributary-and the Dadu River were expected to exceed their guaranteed water levels, the headquarters added.
Guaranteed water levels are the maximum amount of water that a dam can hold before it overflows, leading to possible damage to the structure.
When he approached the Leshan Giant Buddha on Tuesday morning, Zhang Xudong, a middle-aged resident of Leshan, Sichuan, was shocked to see that floodwater had surged past the toes of the 71-meter-high statue, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.