Were officials to blame for the inundation of farms in China?

WHEN loudspeakers in Kouzi, a village in the eastern province of Shandong, blared out urgent warnings of floodwaters heading downriver towards them, residents were anxious, but they did not panic. They had been told it would be another day before the crest would reach them, and that the water would not cause extensive damage. They took precautions to protect their property as best they could and left as ordered. When they returned a day later they found their homes in chest-deep water and their farms wrecked. This was not only a natural disaster caused by unusually heavy rain during a typhoon, locals allege. It was also a man-made one.