China's Yangtze river closed to ships by severe drought

Telegraph ^ | 05/12/11 | Peter Foster

[TigerLikesRooster]

China's Yangtze river closed to ships by severe drought

The Yangtze river, the longest waterway in Asia and China's most important shipping route, has been closed by the worst drought in 50 years that has left cargo ships stranded and 400,000 people without drinking water.

Chinese fishing boats berth on the dried river banks as the annual dry winter
season caused the water level along the Yangtze river to be so low

By Peter Foster, Beijing 2:26PM BST 12 May 2011

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Water-levels have sunk as low as 10ft in the main thoroughfare of the 3,900-mile long river that stretches from the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau to the coastal city of Shanghai.

The Yangtze river basin is home to one-third of China's population and is responsible for 40 per cent of the country's economic growth.

Emergency teams have been sent to the river's middle reaches around Wuhan in the central province of Hubei, to rescue two ships that have been grounded in the past week and help any others that become stranded.

The river's management office has now closed a 140-mile stretch of the river above Wuhan to ocean-going vessels because of the shallow water.

It also said the river is 160 feet narrower in key sections than it was last year.

Wu Heping, a senior official at the management office said the drought that has affected the Yangtze is the "first we have seen in the past half century" and that the river's water level is "the lowest it has been since 2003, when the Three Gorges Dam went into operation."

He warned that even though storms are imminent, "heavy rain may not raise the water level much".

[bert]

Ping ping

(a literary reference to Ping)

[bikerman]

Looks like a good time to do bottom repairs on the ships and maybe even a new paint job.

[quantim]

I wasn’t kidding! An hour ago here in MI we were within 4 degrees of a snowstorm...in the middle of May!

[Joe Boucher]

Shanghai is located where the river intersects the ocean.
Has this affected Shanghai much?

[Onelifetogive]

Officials at the dam said they have opened sluice gates, sending over 1,400 cubic feet of water flushing down the river to alleviate the problems...

First, that is basically NO water. Some bathtubs full. Second, it would strike me as odd that the Chinese Dam officials would be using English units (Cubic feet?)

The number keys should be removed from they keyboard of almost anyone with a journalism degree...