The next area to receive attention centres roughly round the junction of Nanking and Chekiang Roads, a low-lying area which is still near enough to the river to be liable flooding from the tide, though flooc are just as often caused by the discharge from heavy rainfall running into the area from all sides. As two main drains flow through this area, it is not possible to isolate it by non-is natural to wonder what steps the Shanghai Municipal Council has been taking to prevent these them under some sort of control.
An interesting review of the work done by the S.M.C. Public Works years answers many questions of the layman regarding what has been done in the matter of flood return valves in the same way as the Bund area. instead, water from ike drains, whether due to tide or rainfall in the surrounding area, is prevented from reaching the road by float valves fitted on. all the street gullies, as the ope@ings by the side of the roads for carrying off surface water are called. When these float valves are closed there is means of removing the surface water that accumulates from rainfall, so an opening has been made at the lowest point and connected to the nearest sewage pumping station which =e-moves the surface water with the sewage. The rate of removal is limited to the reserve capacity of the pumps, so it takes some time to remove the water after a heavy downpour, After an exceptionally heavy rainfall in October last year, part of Avenue Road was so deeply flooded that the tram service was unable (o run for about a week. Although nothing like so serious an interruption had occurred before, the service is so important, particularly during floods, that the drains in the area affected have been isolated with nonreturn valves and a connection made to the nearest sewage pump station, which should reduce the risk of the service being stopped by floods again.
Precautions in Hongkew "Thede are two areas north of the Soochow Creek which are liable to flood from high tide and these are being equipped with non-return valves and float valves in the manner already described. All parts of the Settlement north of the Soochow Creek are so near the point of discharge of the drains into the river that floods due to heavy rainfall are rare and never last for long. The Worst floods from rainfall on that side occur outside the Settlement and are due to neglect of the main drainage creeks in that area for many years.
The most serious floods ju recent years have been in the Western District of the Settlement and the areas just beyond it. In making roads beyond the Settlement the Council was limited to what wes possible by voluntary agreement with the landowners The few roads that could be made in this way were supplied with drains sufficient for the semirural residential development so characteristic of the area until recently. Some 10 years ago the late City Government scheduled a complete system of roads there, and had they been made and supplied with normal drainage. the area would have been as well drained og the greater part of the Settlement. But these roads were never made, leaving road blocks about half the size of the Central District which have been fully developed with smell industries during the last three years.
As the development took place without any municipal control, it res sulted in the destruction of the greater part of the drainage system on which the area depended, and now when heavy rainfall occurs most of the water is thrown on to the surrounding roads and thence into the western extremity of the Settlement drainage system which was
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.