Yellow River Bursts its Banks

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 21065, 17 June 1938, Page 9

Yellow River Bursts its Banks

Wide Area Inundated

Japanese Armies May 7?e in Grave Peril

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright

(Received June 16, 6.30 p.m.)

SHANGHAI, June 15. The Yellow River burst its banks at the intersection of the Grand Canal, one hundred miles to the eastward of the existing gaps. The water is rushing in a southeasterly direction, partly submerging the Japanese controlled province of Shantung. A flood five miles wide separates the Chinese and Japanese between Kaifeng and Chengchow, over-running the Lunghai railway. The peasants are in a desperate plight and are fleeing en masse. The floods have reached Yenling, fifty miles from the breaks, inundating nine hundred square miles, in which there are two thousand villages. The Japanese admit that lives have been lost. A later message from Hankow says that the rain is unabated. The Yellow River flood has-now .reached seventy miles due south of Kaifeng, and is sweeping towards Chowkiakow, forty miles west of the Honan Province. The combined frantic efforts of Japanese soldiers and Chinese farmers have not availed to arrest the breaches, though the Shantung inundation seems to be under control. Both the Chinese and Japanese are building dykes along the entire length of the Lunghai railway as safety zones. The latest reports state that it is expected that the floods will join the Yangtse and Yellow Rivers, resulting in the inundation of the Provinces of Honan, Anhwei and Kiangsu. Earlier messages reported that the Japanese believed that their army escaped from the vicinity of Chengchow, which is now submerged to a depth of five feet. The Japanese consider that the repair of the dykes cannot be carried out because of the rapidity of the current and the continuous rain. Railway experts point out that the maximum normal flooding occurs at the end of July, and they freely predict a major catastrophe. It is feared that the river may also burst through the bend opposite Kaifeng and resume its old bed. The river would then devastate the provinces of Shangtung, North Honan, and North Kiangsu, entering the sea at Haichow. This would bring the whole Japanese Army in North China to a standstill and place it in a position of grave peril. The Yellow River, or Hwang-ho, is one of the chief rivers of China. It rises near the source of the Yangste-kiang in Tibet and, flowing north-east, traverses north-western China and Mongolia. It then re-enters China and flows south for 400 miles to Puchow, forming the boundary between the provinces of Shensi and Shansi. The river then flows east’ for 300 miles to Kaifeng, the present scene of hostilities in North China, and makes a sharp bend to the north-east, pursuing its 400-mile course to the sea through Stantung Province into the Gulf of Pechihli. Before 1852, when a disastrous flood diverted its course, the Hwang-ho used to flow eastwards from Kaifeng, entering the sea near Haishow. In some parts of its eastern course, the river-bed is above the great plain through which it passes, and the yielding of the embankments has been a frequent cause of desolation. The total length of the river is 2500 miles, and because of its destructive floods, it is known as “China’s Sorrow.”

JAPANESE BOMBERS BROUGHT DOWN SUCCESS OF CHINESE FIGHTERS United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received June 17, 1.26 a.m.) LONDON, June 16. Canton is elated at the news of six Japanese bombers having been brought down near Kwantung, on the Honan border. The Japanese were raiding the Canton-Hankow railway when ten fast Chinese chasers attacked and circled the Japanese machines, continuously machine gunning them until they crashed one after another. PROGRESS OF CAMPAIGN JAPANESE ADVANCE UP THE YANGSTE United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph —Copyright SHANGHAI, June 15. It is reported from Tokio that t’- ’ Japanese units have swept up the Yangtse River 45 miles from Nanking

and the fall of Wangkaing is expected. Japanese naval aeroplanes, flying 1250 miles, have bombed Kweilin on the motor highway to French IndoChina. It is also reported that Shangh x has ben declared cholera-infected and the Japanese are imposing a strict quarantine on merchantmen which is placing foreign trade at a further disadvantage. TAKING NO RISKS FRENCH,FORCES AT TIENTSIN United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, June 15. It is reported from Tientsin that after a consular declaration that France would not tolerate any detriment to her prestige, French troops have occupied the Jesuit College until the Chinese police have controlled North China and the puppet Government has withdrawn.