Sichuan floods spur historic move

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.