A total of 6,390 people in the area for storing flood water at Mengwa of the lower reaches of the Huaihe River in east China's Anhui Province, have been evacuated and resettled before the arrival of the river's first flood peak for this summer.

According to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters, the people have been resettled at a newly constructed quarter, and it is not necessary for them to return after the flooding water ebbs.

The Huaihe River's first flood peak is to arrive at Wangjiaba, a major flood-control observation station in the middle reaches of the river, at around 12:00 Tuesday night. Then the water level there will reach 29.3 meters, 1.8 meters higher than the warning level, the headquarters said.

The Huaihe is the major river in Anhui Province and flood-prone.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2005)