15 villages flooded by leaking reservoir in Hainan

Residents pull themselves forward in a street submerged by floods   Water from a leaking reservoir has inundated 15 villages and hundreds of hectares of crops in Haikou, the capital of south China’s Hainan Province. The local authorities say a broken valve was to blame. Workers have had several failed attempts to block the water, as it continues to spill out and cause damage.
Water continues to flow out of the broken valve a week after the original incident.Water in the downstream villages is as high as four meters.Emergency repair workers tried to block the leak, but failed.
Zhou Haifeng, local official, said \"All the stuff we used to block the leak has been washed away. The flows are so fast that divers can’t reach down there and fix the valve either.\"
Workers continued efforts to block the leak for two days before deciding to wait until the water level dropped low enough to expose the valve.They also dug two channels to stop further flooding from entering crop lands.But most of the damage had already been done.
Chen Xuejing, farmer, said \"My crops are rotten in the water. The loss is great.\"The situation upstream is no better.The leaking reservoir caused most of the fish pond’s water to trail out.
Some fish have been carried away, those that remain will soon be out of water.Chen Xinyu, fisherman, said \"When the water goes, my fish will die, all of them, I’m so worried that haven’t slept for days.\"
Authorities say it should be another week before the water drops below the valve. They are also evaluating the damage and preparing to compensate farmers.