Rain hampers china’s efforts to drain quake created lake to prevent flood

CHENGDU, China: Rain grounded helicopters and hampered attempts Thursday to drain an earthquake-created lake in central China threatening to flood disaster victims.

The new Tangjiashan lake above the city of Beichuan was formed by a landslide triggered by the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck May 12, blocking a river. The lake has been rising by several yards (meters) a day.

With roads to the area cut off, helicopters have airlifted heavy equipment to dig drainage channels. Heavy rain prevented aircraft from flying Wednesday, state television CCTV reported, but workers were continuing efforts to clear debris despite the weather.

In the past three days of around-the-clock work, troops have dug a 50-yard (50-meter) -wide channel running 300 yards (300 meters) long, CCTV said.

Rain was forecast to continue in the area Thursday before subsiding later in the day, according to the China Meteorological Bureau.

Some 158,000 people downstream from the new lake have been evacuated, and officials have pledged to warn other nearby residents in case of flooding so they have time to flee.

Of 34 lakes created by the earthquake, 28 are at risk of bursting, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The death toll from the quake is expected to rise above 80,000. The confirmed number of dead is 68,109 with 19,851 people still missing, the Cabinet said Wednesday.

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