Floods in Yangtze River History

Floods in Yangtze River History – Yangtze River Introduction

The Yangtze River was named River, Li River in ancient. As it traverses the middle part of China, passing by long distance, it was renamed Yangtze River (Long River) in Six Dynasties. The Yangtze River originated from the main peak of Tanggula Mountain. The thousands miles Yangtze River flows from the high mountains and plateaus in the western to the coastal plains in the eastern, and flows into the East Sea. The 6300 kilometers long Yangtze River is the longest river in China. The main stream from source to Yichang station is the upper reaches; from Yichang to Hukow, Jiangxi is the middle reaches, and the stream below Hukow is down reaches. The Sichuan Basin in upper reaches and the plain in down reaches are developed regions with dense population. They are also the places where floods often happened.

Floods in Yangtze River History – Formation of Flood in Yangtze River

The floods in the Yangtze River basin were formed by torrential rain. In Yangtze River basin, the annual rainfall is about 1100 mm, occurred between May to October, and focus on July and August. In common situation, the middle and down reaches will be earlier than the upper reaches, and the branches in south bank will be earlier than north bank. In normal years, the flood peaks in the main stream will stagger, and there will not form flood. If the flood peaks of branches over lapped at the main stream, there will form large scale flood in the whole basin. The floods in Yangtze River basin mainly occurred in the plain areas in down reaches.

Floods in Yangtze River History – Several Floods in Yangtze River

In Yangtze River history, there are several floods. In the 2096 years from 185 BC (early period of East Han Dynasty) to 1911 (end period of Qing Dynasty), there happened 214 floods in the Yangtze River. In the 450 years between 1499 and 1949, the dike of Jianghan in Hubei Province was broken for 186 times. Among these floods in Yangtze River history, the largest one is in 1870. At that time, the largest flood peak flow rate in Yichang reached 105,000 cubic meters/seconds.

In 1931, the strong cold air of Northern came down, and subtropical anticyclone was every strong and stable, there formed the warm air and cold air staying in the Yangtze River for a long time, which brought about torrential rain for one month, and serious flood in the Yangtze River. Large scale fields and many cities were submerged by the flood.

Although there were so many serious floods in Yangtze River basin, people didn't fear them. The people in Yangtze River basin, in China, even in the world united together to fight against them. After the floods retreated back, people put hands on building their home again. All of us believe that if we can unit together, we can overcome any problems.