SHANGHAI (AP) - Authorities are rushing to unsnag snarled shipping traffic and prevent accidents along the drought-stricken Yangtze River, a key route to fast growing markets in inland China.
As communities along the Mississippi River in the U.S. contend with potentially record-breaking floods, the government said Thursday that a prolonged dry spell has left water flows dangerously low along the Yangtze. It said dozens of emergency teams have been deployed along the river's middle reaches to help prevent accidents.
The problem is adding urgency to plans announced earlier this week to spend billions of dollars to dredge much deeper channels through the lower reaches of the heavily silted waterway.