Thousands of soldiers and civilians mobilized to fight floodwaters in central China headed home yesterday as water levels receded from the dikes that held back the rain-swollen Yangtze River.

Meteorologists said the approaching typhoon Rusa was not expected to bring heavy rains or new threats of flooding, prompting officials to say the worst of the season's devastating floods was now over.

Embankments protecting farms and cities in Anhui Province remained intact even as the Yangtze rose 0.78 meter above the danger level, a province Water Resources Bureau official said.

Water levels were dropping after reaching their peak early yesterday morning, the official said.

Most of the 44,000 soldiers and civilians who stood overnight watch on the dikes had gone home. "All the dikes held up," the official said.

An official in Hunan Province, which was hit hard by floods last week, said the Yangtze's levels were falling and no new rains were forecast. But he said waters were still too high for 200,000 people evacuated last week to return to their homes.

"We've passed the most severe period," said the official at the province's Antiflood Command Center.

Direct economic loss to the province from the flooding has exceeded 14.2 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion), according to the provincial Department of Civil Affairs.

More than 22.4 million residents in 110 counties were affected.

The flooding, centered around Dongting Lake, damaged 286,000 houses and 2.22 hectares of crops.

Water level at Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, were expected to drop below 27 meters yesterday, which is below the alert marks. Experts said that it will decrease below 26 meters next Tuesday, which is a safe line for the area.

Downriver in Nanjing, a city of 5.5 million, dikes were holding despite waters about half-a-meter above the danger level, said an official.

The Nanjing Meteorology Bureau said Typhoon Rusa, which had been heading toward the central coast, is veering northward.

It was expected to bring strong winds but only moderate rains to areas near the Yangtze and its tributaries.

( eastday.com August 31, 2002)