Crews were on standby to defend homes and farmland in the Songliao basin north of Beijing, which covers 1.2 million square kilometers (482,200 square miles).
The area comprises parts of four provinces and several large cities, with a total population of almost 100 million. Tens of thousands of people have already been evacuated.
Dams have been partially emptied and flood zones have been prepared. Ten rivers have exceeded their historic levels, according to reports.
Much of China is experiencing a particularly wet summer, with 142 deaths from flooding in July and several dozen more this month.
In the western city of Xi’an, an avalanche killed 24 people on Tuesday and three people were missing. Dog rescue teams continued the search.
A landslide and flash flooding on Friday damaged a highway and blacked out 900 homes.
Heavy rains and floods affect parts of China every summer, but this year other areas and the capital itself have been affected. This was the product of two huge typhoons that also hit Japan and the Korean peninsula.
Beijing prevented further damage by diverting the waters to neighboring Hebei province, sparking the fury of the area’s residents, who suffered severe damage to their homes and crops.
The deadliest and most destructive floods in recent history occurred in 1998, when 4,150 people died, mostly on the banks of the Yangtze River, but also along the Nen and Songhua rivers in the Songliao basin.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
