While the Japanese army called upon its air force to assist in stemming the progress of the turgid waters of the Yellow River, the flood yester, day spread relentlessly over the flat plains of northern Honan to cover 600 square kilometres Two thousand villages, with an aggregate population of 500,000, were affected.. Loss of life among Chinese farmers was expected to exceed the 50,000 mark, Domei dispatches from Kaifeng said.
With special receptacles packeil with gunny ba which normally would be used for the construction of sand-bag emp! ements—taking the place of death-dealing boms, twin-engined Japanese bombers roared above the breached embank: ments where isolated Japanese engineer units, assisted by Chinese farmers, were fighting against time and nature to fill in the gaps, When released from the low-flying craft, the parachute-equipped recep-tades floated gracefully towards the ground. An occasional bui machine-guti fire from the northern shore indicated the presence of Chinese troops.
As soon as they hit the ground, the receptacles were promptly an-packed, the bags filled with earth ind rushed to the nearest breach.
Tools and food were also being dropped from these planes.
The width of the flooded area yesterday exceeded ten kilometre: while its length was estimated to run to about 60 kilometres.
Efforts to rescue marooned victims of the flood continued.
Forewarned of the breaching of the dykes by its "eyes" aloft, the Japanese army*did not suffer any losses directly attributable to the flood, official dispatches claimed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.