Over 1,400 local residents became victims of an ice flood from the Ili River in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, according to the local relief department.

 

As of Saturday noon, a total of 1,430 herdsmen and farmers in 233 families suffered losses from the flood, which soaked 286 houses, a schoolyard and a clinic. Some 300 tons of rice and a large amount of feedstuff for livestock had been immersed.

 

Local authorities have made arrangements for 75 families who lost their houses, offering them 100 tons of coal and 10 tons of flour. Policemen and rescuers now are trying to dredge the riverway by blowing up the ice.

 

Consecutive snowfalls raided the Ili Valley from Jan. 9 to 11. Along with a drastic drop in temperature, ice blocked the riverway and caused a flood in Qapqal County near the Ili River.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2006)