Up to 1.9 million Chinese civilians are struggling to contain floods in five provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river.
Entire villages are being swept away as the situation along the swollen river reaches a critical stage, Beijing has revealed. Hundreds of thousands of peasants are huddling for safety on the top of crumbling river banks.
In one incident, a company of soldiers struggling to repair a waterlogged dyke in central Hubei province was washed away when the wall collapsed and the river surged in.
Chinese officials now admit that hundreds are missing at Jiayu, upstream from the provincial capital of Wuhan, after a 200yard stretch of the dam broke on Saturday.
"A fleet of 38 boats rushed to the rescue with 1,000 soldiers to help, but because of the rushing waters they could not land," one eyewitness reported.
Up to 50,000 local peasants are taking refuge in makeshift tents along a 60-mile stretch of the earthen dyke, although yesterday it was unclear how they were faring.
The disaster area is at a critical choke-point in the central Yangtze valley, where the river makes a huge bend through low-lying country near the town of Yueyang before turning east towards the city of Wuhan.
Details of a disaster not far away, in Li county, a week ago are only now coming to light. More than 30 people died, 60 are missing, 46,000 houses were destroyed and 80,000 people are living in shanties on the top of the dykes.
Flood relief in Li county appears to depend largely on local initiative. Civil servants are being urged to contribute two months' wages to buy food for the refugees, who are being issued with 1lb of rice daily, plus noodles and biscuits.
Officials admit the dyke-top dwellers have "no way of going home".