Shanghai, June 17.
Threatened 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, Dome! 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 '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, Chungmow, halfway between Kei-feng and Chengchow, Yushih and Pukow were entirely surrounded by water, varying in depth from two to eight feet, The rise of the water at various points came to a stop on Wednesday, 9 slight fall being noted at night as Japanese engineers, assisted by thou-sends of anxious Chinese farmers, succeded in placing makeshift bar Hers across the path of the flood.
Japanese engineer officers, directing the flood fighting operations, were confident that the water could be stopped if the Yellow River did not show a rise in the next 48 hours, Rain in the immediate vicinity of] the breached embankments or ful ther upriver, however, would make human efforts to stem the flood hopepss, leaving the way for a major catastrophe, they said.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.