5 people were killed and 15 people were missing, an "unprecedented" flood

China News Weekly

2024-06-18 22:38Published on the official account of China News Weekly in Hong Kong, China

In less than 15 hours, the flood control emergency response issued by the Meizhou City Three Defense Headquarters in Guangdong Province was changed three times, and the level was finally raised from level 4 to level 1. The ferocity of the flood is evident from the official response.

According to the briefing issued by the Guangdong Provincial Emergency Management Bureau and the Office of the General Headquarters for Flood Control, Drought and Wind Prevention in Guangdong Province, on June 16, under the influence of heavy precipitation clouds, heavy rainstorms occurred in many places in Meizhou, Guangdong, among them, the 24-hour precipitation in Surabaya Town, Pingyuan County reached 369.3 mm, and many places in the city were seriously affected.

As of the 17th, flash floods and landslides occurred in Surabaya Town, Renju Town, Dongshi Town, Nanli Town, Jiaoling County, Songyuan Town, Meixian District, Pingyuan County, etc., resulting in 5 deaths, 15 missing contacts, and 13 people being trapped.

China News Weekly learned that as of the afternoon of June 18, communications in many places in Meizhou had not been restored. As floodwaters flooded to three storeys high, some villages turned into swamps. "Chickens, ducks, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, as well as furniture and household appliances at home, are all gone," a villager in Xinpu Township, Jiaoling County, the hardest-hit villager, told China News Weekly.

Several villagers mentioned that it was a "never-before-seen" flood.

Unprecedented flooding

"Everyone got up, and there was a lot of water", a video of village cadres in Jiaoling County, Meizhou City, roaring through the streets and alleys overnight, informing villagers to evacuate was circulated on the Internet. According to reports, on June 16, the village cadres received a flood discharge notice, and less than half an hour after organizing the evacuation of the villagers, the flood struck.

The official account of Jiaoling County Rong Media mentioned that on the same day, the county suffered unprecedented flooding due to heavy rain.

Zhang Ling, who is 28 years old this year, has never seen "such a big water". He is a native of Xiaoche Village, Xinpu Town, Jiaoling County, which is also one of the hardest hit areas.

According to the data, the village is located at the confluence of the Yushu River and the Grotto River. The Grotto River originates in Wuping County, Fujian Province, which has also been hit by heavy rainfall. As of 10 o'clock on the 17th, 4 people have died and 2 people are missing. The Yushu River originates from Meilong Village, Bachi Township, Pingyuan County, Meizhou City, and flows into the Grotto River in Xinfangli, Xinpu Town.

Zhang Ling recalled that after the Qingming Festival, it rained one after another. On June 16th, it rained very heavily and it rained for a day.

"At about 7 o'clock in the morning on the 16th, the river began to flow into the water, and it went up seven or eight meters at once, almost ten meters higher than the usual water level," Zhang Ling told China News Weekly, and at about 9 o'clock in the morning of the same day, the production team leader came to the door to notify the evacuation. There are many elderly people in the village, and many of them were reluctant to leave at first, because they did not expect such a large amount of water. But after about two hours, the embankment broke.

Many members of Zhang Ling's family live in the village. "My dad and his three brothers, there are a total of eight or nine people at home, there are children, and the third uncle with disabilities, we came out relatively early, and there are still many people who are trapped until this afternoon (June 17)." Zhang Ling said that after receiving the evacuation notice, they took the elderly and children away, but by the time he went back to pick up his parents, the road had been sealed and the bridge had been sealed.

"At first, the village arranged for everyone to be placed in a store on higher ground, but it also flooded at two or three o'clock in the morning on the 17th, and then we found a place by ourselves, and many rescue teams came, but there was no way to start the rescue." He said.

According to the data of the "Palm Water Situation" of the Guangdong Provincial Hydrological Bureau, at about 4 o'clock on June 17, the water level of Xinpu Station reached 85 meters, the flow rate reached 5,670 cubic meters per second, and the warning water level of the station was 80 meters.

An aerial photograph provided by Zhang Ling shows that only some of the village's houses had their roofs exposed in the water after the flooding. His own home was 3 stories high, but it was also flooded.

"There are dozens of chickens, a cow, furniture and household appliances in the house, and all the food and use." Zhang Ling said. Fortunately, as far as he knew, there were no casualties in the village.

A village of short cars that has been hit by flooding. Image source/interviewee

Many towns and villages are still "islands"

Xiao Peng, who was in Guangzhou, was in shock. His hometown is located in Songyuan Town, Meixian District, Meizhou, and just two days ago, his cousin experienced a thrilling scene.

According to him, at 11:30 p.m. on June 16, his cousin was trapped in the attic of the shop, the water was chest-high, and the phone could not be reached. A father and son were washed away from the old house opposite his eldest cousin's house, and they have not been found.

"Someone witnessed his father and son escape and fall into the water, shouting for help but not being able to do anything," Xiao Peng said.

According to CCTV news, affected by the floods, more than 130,000 households in three counties and one district of Meizhou City, Guangdong Province have lost power, and many villages have become "isolated islands". A staff member of the rescue command center of the Meizhou Emergency Management Bureau told China News Weekly that as of 16 o'clock on the 18th, the flood in many places in Meizhou has receded below the warning level, but there are still some towns and villages that have not restored power supply and communications.

Yao Guanfeng, director of the party and government office in Renju Township, Pingyuan County, which was severely affected by the disaster, told China News Weekly that the town has 15 villages and one neighborhood committee. As of 11 o'clock on the 18th, there are still no roads in 4 villages, and 5 villages are in a state of power and signal loss.

"Yesterday morning, the water almost receded, and today a lot of machinery is working." Yao Guanfeng said that according to rough statistics, about 90 percent of the people in the town were affected. Every village has satellite telephones, and it is not known that individual people have lost contact.

According to Yao Guanfeng, the local rain continued this month, and it began to rain at 5 a.m. on the 16th, and it did not stop for a day. Official data shows that from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the same day, the average rainfall in Pingyuan County was 188.6 mm, and the maximum rainfall was 360.6 mm in Surabaya Town.

"According to our records, there was a time in 1928 when it rained so much." Yao Guanfeng said.

Guo Taiwei, commander-in-chief of the Meizhou rescue operation, told China News Weekly that the team has sent two teams to the disaster area, including Guangdong Blue Sky Rescue and Heyuan Blue Sky Rescue, with a total of 23 people, and the rescue team arrived in Jiaoling at 2:00 a.m. on June 17, transferring more than 600 people. In the afternoon of the same day, the water level in Jiaoling County began to recede, and the team moved to Pingyuan County.

Guo Taiwei said: Affected by the disaster, traffic in many villages and towns has been restricted, some bridges have collapsed, and landslides have occurred on highways, which has brought great difficulties to the rescue work.

According to China News Weekly, the collapse of houses and the obstruction of roads are one of the significant features of the disaster, which also highlights the seriousness of the disaster. According to Xiao Peng, there are many old houses in his hometown, which collapsed in the flood, and many old houses are still inhabited, mainly by the elderly and children.

Hao Nan, a public welfare disaster responder and head of the Zhuoming Disaster Information Service Center, told China News Weekly that the disaster in Meizhou was mainly concentrated in the mountainous areas of northern Meizhou, so the collapse of houses was more prominent. Based on the analysis of census data and emergency help information, the vulnerability of the victims of this disaster is relatively strong.

"The local hilly terrain is fragmented, and the slope drop is relatively high, which exacerbates the flood convergence process. The river is meandering, the fortification level is low, and it is easy to overflow over the embankment; Low-lying areas are densely populated, with a large proportion of left-behind old and young; The level of rural development is low, and there are still some old civil and engineering houses, which are easy to collapse under the impact and immersion of floods. Hao Nan said.

The Blue Sky Rescue Team is carrying out the rescue. Image source/interviewee

The flood waters are receding, and there are still many difficulties

The above-mentioned emergency management personnel of Meizhou City mentioned that although there may still be rain in Meizhou City in the next few days, according to meteorological data, there will basically be no heavy water.

"The amount of water in this disaster is very staggering, and if it were not for the reservoir built in the 21st century, the consequences would be unimaginable, and such a large amount of water would have a devastating impact on the downstream Chaozhou city and other areas." Despite years of experience in disaster relief, Hao Nan is still a little apprehensive. In his opinion, although the flood water is gradually receding, there are still many difficulties, "the roads are broken, rescue and material supplies are difficult".

According to the Pingyuan County Rong Media Center, as of 18 o'clock on the 18th, 1,200 rural roads in the county had collapsed, 80 kilometers of roadbed pavement were damaged, 60 roads were interrupted, and 12 bridges were damaged.

In the Meizhou disaster, Hao Nan's Zhuoming Disaster Information Service Center also launched an emergency rescue platform, "Many elderly people are asking for help, and they have no food or drink. ”

A message he received asking for help showed a typical picture of the disaster: a village in Pingyuan County was mostly destroyed by floods, leaving only a street far from the hillside, where all the villagers were concentrated.

According to the CCTV report, after the disaster, the Guangdong Provincial Emergency Management Department immediately dispatched an aviation rescue helicopter to Pingyuan County, Meizhou to carry out rescue work. So far, five helicopters have been dispatched, with a total of 59 sorties, and 176 professional rescue personnel have been transported to the affected areas.

Hao Nan believes that in terms of emergency rescue, post-disaster relief, recovery and reconstruction, the affected areas need greater support.

"The development level of the areas affected by the torrential rain and flood is relatively backward, and the characteristics of population aging are obvious, these two factors will have a key impact on the self-rescue and recovery ability of residents after the disaster." Hao Nan said.

For example, Hao Nan said that according to the data of 2023, the proportion of urban permanent residents and the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents in Meizhou are significantly lower than the provincial average. According to the emergency information collected during the torrential rain and flood, the rural houses in the affected areas are mainly brick and wood structures, and there are also old rammed earth houses and iron houses, which have a low tolerance to flood impact and immersion.

At the same time, the proportion of the population over 60 years old in Meizhou City reached 14.41%, which is the city with the highest aging coefficient in the province. Correspondingly, the emergency information reflects the strong need for relocation of the elderly and young children left behind, and there have been many cases of vulnerable conditions such as lack of food, disability, and need to seek medical attention for chronic diseases. Hao Nan said.

China News Weekly noted that at 11:30 on June 17, the Guangdong Provincial Disaster Reduction Committee launched a provincial level IV disaster relief emergency response.

"It's the first time I've experienced this kind of thing, and I've stayed up all night," Zhang Ling told China News Weekly, adding that the village is already "cleaning up the mess," but what he is most worried about is post-disaster reconstruction. ”

(Zhang Ling and Xiao Peng are pseudonyms in the article)

Author: Chen Weijing

View original image 565K

• 

•