Beijing:
Rising river waters caused by heavy rain and flooding tested the massive Three Gorges Dam in China on Tuesday.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that this week the Yangtze River, where the dam is located, is expected to see its highest water level since completion.
It reported that the water flows could match those of 1998, one of the worst flood years in the past six decades.
Along the Yangtze, emergency crews worked to drain overflowing reservoirs and pile up sandbags to prevent flooding.
Officials at the flood control headquarters for the Yangtze River said continued volumes of heavy rain were expected in the coming days.
Flood waters were expected to flow at 70-thousand cubic metres per second, greater than the 50-thousand cubic metres per second during the 1998 flooding, when more than four-thousand people were killed, and more than 18 (m) million people evacuated.
The heavy rain and flooding fell on and affected Chongqing in southwestern China on Monday, and residents have had to be evacuated from their homes by boat, CCTV reported.
Shops and the historic area of Chongqing was severely affected by the flood waters.
Flooding was expected to exceed the levels of 1998, when more than 4,000 people were killed by flooding, Xinhua reported.
A weekend of torrential rains left 23 dead and forced nearly 600-thousand to evacuate their homes, according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile, flooding was also severe in Ankang, Shanxi Province, where soldiers were on hand to with boats to ferry people to safety. Many were forced to spend the night in emergency shelters.
The total death toll from summer storms is 146 with another 40 people still missing, mostly in regions along the Yangtze River Basin, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.