A flood crest, the biggest ever in six years, emerged Wednesday morning in the Shandong section of the Yellow River, the second longest river in China.

The water flow of the Yellow River section surged to 3,540 cubic meters per second at 6 a.m. Wednesday, a record discharge in the past five years since 1999, and its water table topped the 63.05 meter mark at the Gaocun Hydrological Station in the river's lower-reaches.

Local water authorities held that the flood crest could hit 63.3 meters, close to the warning line of 63.4 meters. At present, a few newly shaped tidal zones in Heze have been submerged.

The local Yellow River section, which began swelling on Tuesday afternoon, rose to 2,400 cubic meters from 800 cubic meters per second in less than eight hours, local water authorities acknowledged, giving no explanation for the sudden swelling. So far, no severe rainfall had been reported in this area.

The 5,464-km-long Yellow River, rising in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, wriggles its way through eight provinces and autonomous regions, and finally empties into the Bohai Sea in north China.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2004)