''HREATENED by the greatest Yellow River catastrophe since 1855, when "China's Sorrow" dramatically changed its course, thousands of frightened Chinese in north Honan yesterday anxiously scanned the skies for harbingers of sunshine.
Upon the weather conditions of the'next 48 hours, Domei dispatches from Kaifeng said, depends the fate of thousands of Chinese lives and a wide expanse of fertile soil.
The flood, caused by the breaching of the Yellow River embankments, yesterday morning covered an estimated area of 1,600 square kilometres.
From Kingshuichen, directly north of Chengchow, the flooded area extended to the south-east to Paishachen on the Lunghai railway, thence to Chungmow in the east to Chusenchen, Yushih and Fukow, south-east of Kaifeng. The farthest distance reached by the waters south of the Yellow River was about 100 kilometres.
The maximum width of this strip under water was between 16 to 20 kilometres.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.