Fears of spring floods on the Yellow River have prompted authorities in Shandong Province to take preventive measures.

Recent low temperatures have led to a heavy buildup of ice along 233 kilometers of the river in the eastern province, sources from the Shandong Yellow River Anti-Flood Office said.

The length accounts for more than a third of the 628-kilometer section of the river in Shandong, the last province the river flows through before it empties into the Bohai Sea. All of Shandong's rivers are now frozen, most with ice up to 30 centimeters thick.

At Dongying, near the river's mouth, 70 percent of the water was covered with ice on Monday.

"Everything is under control now. Continued cold weather will thicken the ice layer and freeze up more sections. But everything is safe as far as we know, and serious floods are unlikely to occur," said Liu Hongcai, an official with the anti-flood office.

But the situation could change when the thaw begins in spring, especially when the temperature rises and ice thaws in the upper reaches while the lower reaches are still frozen. There is a possibility of an ice dam forming, cutting off the flow of water and creating a flood.

The anti-flood office says that the province has mobilized more than 450,000 people to deal with the situation if it arises.

They have checked and repaired all preventive facilities and have been trained in dealing with ice floods. Explosives have been prepared in case ice blockages need to be blasted away.

The Yellow River, China's second largest river, originates in Qinghai Province. It then flows through Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan before traversing Shandong and emptying into the sea.

The river passes through six major cities in Shandong -- Liaocheng, Dezhou, Jinan, Binzhou, Zibo and Dongying -- all of which must brace themselves for potential ice flooding each year.

(China Daily January 18, 2005)