英语新闻丨经过整夜努力，洞庭湖决口成功合龙

Flood control and rescue efforts at Dongting Lake in Hunan province reached a crucial phase late on Monday night, with a breached dike sealed at around 10:30 pm.

7月8日深夜，洞庭湖的抗洪救灾工作进入关键阶段，晚10时30分左右，湖南华容团洲垸洞庭湖决口完成封堵。

The breach, 226 meters wide, occurred at around 5:48 pm on Friday at a dike in Tuanzhou, a township in Huarong county in the city of Yueyang, which is part of a dike network around Dongting Lake, China's second-largest freshwater lake.

17时48分许，紧急封堵失败，堤坝决堤，经初步勘测，决堤口宽度约10米。团洲垸是中国第二大淡水湖洞庭湖周围堤坝防护的一部分。

Zhang Yingchun, Hunan's executive vice-governor, said more than 100,000 cubic meters of rock have been used in sealing off the breach, and crews had been sealing off 3.5 meters of the breach an hour.

湖南省常务副省长张迎春称，目前已使用了超过10万立方米的块石封堵决口，每小时封堵约3.5米。

Following the dike breach, a large volume of water from Dongting Lake rushed into the Tuanzhou dike region, flooding 47.6 square kilometers of the region's total area of 55 sq km.

堤坝决堤导致洞庭湖的大量湖水涌入团洲垸，淹没了该地区的47.6平方公里，其总面积约为55平方千米。

At least 7,000 residents were evacuated after the dike burst.

7000余名居民在决堤中被救援。

Several local schools have been turned into temporary shelters, housing about 4,000 residents and providing essential items such as quilts, towels and buckets to disaster victims. Professional medical personnel are available around the clock to those who have been displaced.

当地几所学校已成为当地4000余名居民的临时避难所，救援工作组确保居民们有饭吃、有衣穿、有安全住所、有干净水喝、有病及时医治。

"Our home was affected twice. Back in 1996, there was another flood and then this year. I think the resettlement process is now very good," Tuanzhou resident Cai Shusheng told China Global Television Network.

当地居民蔡树生在接受中国国际电视台采访时表示：“我家曾受到过两次洪水影响。1996年发生过一次洪水，今年是第二次，现在的居民安置做得很好。” 

After the dike breach, an embankment considered the second line of defense was threatened on Monday.

团洲垸的决堤代表洞庭湖的“第二道防线”受到威胁。

The embankment, about 2 kilometers from the breached dike and 14.3 km long, separates Tuanzhou from the nearby township of Qiannan.

居民居住区距离堤坝决堤处约为2公里，决堤总长14.3公里，将团洲垸与附近的钱南垸隔开。

Multiple piping hazards — the movement of water through channels in the embankment — were observed, but they have been brought under control, local authorities said on Monday.

7月8日，地方当局表示，目前管道危险是由于湖水不断涌入导致，目前情况以得到稳定控制。

More than 300 police officers and firefighters have been working at the site to deal with the piping effect.

300多名警察和消防救援队员一直在现场进行救灾抢险工作。

Zhu Dongtie, head of Hunan's Department of Water Resources, said the embankment has not been used to prevent flooding since 1996, and it was built to a much lower standard than the dike.

湖南省水利厅厅长朱东铁称，自1996年以来，堤防未曾用于防洪，其建造标准低于普通堤坝。

Twenty-four incidents of leakage and piping at the embankment have been dealt with, he said.

曾发生过的24起堤坝决堤和管道堵塞都已妥善处理。

Despite all the difficulties and challenges, the embankment must be safeguarded, he added.

尽管存在种种困难和挑战，但堤坝必须守住。

The dike breach followed 17 days of heavy rainfall in Hunan, the longest continuous period of heavy rain since 1961.

堤坝决口前，湖南面临了17天暴雨，这是自1961年以来最长的连续暴雨。

The National Development and Reform Commission has allocated 200 million yuan ($27.5 million) to support disaster-affected parts of Hunan, including the counties of Huarong and Pingjiang in Yueyang, and in neighboring Jiangxi province.

国家发展和改革委员会已拨款约2亿元人民币支持湖南受灾地区，包括岳阳华容县、平江县，以及与湖南毗邻的的江西省。

In Jiangxi, the flood control situation remains severe due to prolonged high water levels on the Yangtze River and at Poyang Lake.

由于长江和鄱阳湖水位长期高于平均水位，江西省防汛形势依然严峻。

Water levels at Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, have been high since June 27, when the water level exceeded the warning level.

中国最大淡水湖鄱阳湖的水位自6月底，其水位一直超警戒水位。

By the end of Sunday night, the water level at Xingzi Station, a key hydrological station on Poyang Lake, still exceeded the warning level by 2.19 meters.

截至7月7日晚，鄱阳湖星子站水位仍超过警戒水位2.19米。

Floods and other geological disasters have affected more than 1.6 million people in Jiangxi in cities such as Nanchang, Jiujiang and Jingdezhen, causing direct economic losses of 2.23 billion yuan.

洪涝等地质灾害累计影响江西南昌、九江、景德镇等城市160多万人，造成直接经济损失22.3亿元。

According to the Ministry of Water Resources' Yangtze River Water Resources Commission, as the river basin's inflow recedes, stations in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze are expected to see water levels gradually fall below the warning level from mid to late July.

根据水利部长江水利委员会的数据，随着流入水量的减少，预计7月中下旬长江中下游站点的水位将逐渐降至警戒水平以下。

sealing off

v.封堵

warning level

n.警戒水位