Currently, 98 rivers in the Yangtze River Basin, the Pearl River Basin, the Xijiang River, the Taihu Basin and other places have experienced over-alarm floods
Many places in the south are still facing major flood challenges such as continued pressure on embankments, difficulty in preventing geological disasters, and the need to strengthen people's disaster prevention awareness and capabilities. Pressure
Text | "Lookout" News Weekly Reporter
At about 7:00 on June 27, the water level at Xingzi Station, the iconic hydrological station of Poyang Lake, reached 19.03 meters, exceeding the 19-meter warning water level;
At 17:00 on June 28, the water level at Shuiyangjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, reached 19.03 meters. The water level at Shuiyang Station reached 11.02 meters, exceeding the warning level by 0.42 meters. It was the first time this year that a major tributary of the Anhui section of the Yangtze River exceeded the warning level;
At 9:00 on June 30, the water level at Chenglingji Hydrological Station, the iconic hydrological station of Dongting Lake, rose to 33 meters. , reaching the warning water level, marking the formation of "Dongting Lake Flood No. 1 in 2024"...
Since the flood season this year, many places in the south have suffered the strongest floods in recent years. Heavy rainfall has been persistent and extreme in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and some areas in the south of the Yangtze River. and catastrophic prominence.
Reporters from "Lookout" News Weekly recently visited the front lines of flood control in Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi and other places and found that flood prevention and disaster relief work in various places is advancing in an orderly and vigorous manner. At the same time, they are still faced with continued pressure on embankments, difficulty in preventing geological disasters, and the public's awareness and ability to prevent disasters. Strengthening and other shortcomings urgently need to be addressed.
Floods occur frequently in the south.
On June 1, my country entered the flood season. After the flood, many places in the south suffered from extremely heavy rainfall. According to news released by the Ministry of Water Resources on June 30, numbered floods have occurred in the Xijiang River, Yangtze River, and Taihu Lake in recent days. Currently, 98 rivers in the Yangtze River Basin, Pearl River Basin, Xijiang River Basin, Taihu Basin and other places are experiencing floods exceeding warning levels.
Respondents said that this round of flood conditions in the south generally presents three characteristics:
Flood conditions in major rivers are significantly ahead of schedule. The relevant person in charge of the Flood and Drought Disaster Prevention Department of the Ministry of Water Resources said that major rivers across the country had 6 numbered floods in April, more than 2 months earlier than the average annual average. Among them, the No. 1 and No. 2 floods of Beijiang in the Pearl River Basin are respectively the earliest numbered floods and catastrophic floods since statistical data on major rivers in the country were available in 1998.
River floods occur frequently. Zhao Hui, chief of the Monitoring and Forecasting Section of the Hunan Provincial Climate Center and senior engineer, said that since the start of the flood season this year, as of 8:00 on July 3, the cumulative precipitation in Hunan was 855.1 mm, 43.7% more than the average for the same period in normal years, and the highest since 1961. Most during the same period.
Affected by the recent continuous heavy rainfall, among the four major rivers in Hunan Province, the Xiangjiang River experienced 2 numbered floods, the Zijiang River experienced 5 numbered floods in 7 days, the Yuanjiang River experienced a numbered flood on July 1, and the Lishui River once exceeded the warning level. water level.
The rainfall areas overlap and are highly disastrous. She County, Huangshan City, was the most severely affected county in Anhui Province during this round of heavy rainfall in the south. From June 19 to July 1, She County successively launched first-level flood control response, urban flood control first-level response and flash flood red warning. Affected by multiple rounds of heavy rainfall, geological disasters such as landslides and debris flows in mountainous areas occurred frequently. According to preliminary statistics, as of 18:00 on July 1, the county's affected population exceeded 240,000, with heavy losses in agricultural production, rural construction, road transportation, housing and household property.
The water conservancy department predicted on June 28 that the water level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is expected to continue to rise in the next week. The river sections below Chenglingji, the Dongting Lake area, and the Poyang Lake area will face over-alarm situations across the board. The Jiujiang section has the largest over-alarm situation. The amplitude is about 1.0 meters. Entering July, floods exceeding warning levels may occur in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yihe River and the Shuhe River, and the Zhangwei River and Songhua River in the Haihe River Basin.
"People" and "technology" combined to prevent risks
From 20:00 on June 21 to 20:00 on June 22, Taoyuan County, Hunan Province suffered a rare heavy rainstorm in history. In particular, the maximum rainfall in Yiwangxi Town in 3 hours was 248.0 mm, 6 The maximum hourly rainfall was 403.4 mm, the maximum 12-hour rainfall was 468.2 mm, and the maximum 24-hour rainfall was 471.7 mm, all exceeding the extreme rainfall values in Hunan Province since 1961.
"The soil moisture content is saturated, and the risk of flash floods and geological disasters is gradually increasing." said Li Haojun, director of the Emergency Management Bureau of Taoyuan County, Hunan Province.
In order to prevent possible geological disaster risks, with Hunan as a representative, various regions have combined "technical defense" and "human defense" to do a good job in defense and emergency response.
In terms of "technical prevention", Jiangxi uses the geological disaster monitoring and early warning system to monitor more than 30,000 geological disaster hazard points and slope cutting risk points in real time across the province, and continues to dispatch expert teams for on-the-spot inspections.
Since June 21, the Anhui Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters Office has coordinated and dispatched helicopters from Anhui General Aviation Co., Ltd. and Anhui Hanchi General Aviation Co., Ltd. to take off from Huoshan, Ningguo and other places to load mineral water, instant noodles and other food. Relief supplies such as generators were airdropped to trapped villages in batches, shortening the time and space distance and gaining valuable time for emergency rescue.
Using advanced rescue equipment such as helicopters and drones to deliver personnel and materials to disaster areas, especially those with impassable roads, is also an important technical support for flood prevention and relief in She County.
Since June 21, helicopters have flown more than 20 sorties in She County, airdropping nearly 400 pieces of relief supplies mineral water, nearly 200 boxes of instant noodles, and 5 generators to Xiaoxi Village, Qingxi Village, Guzhu Village and other places in Shaolian Township. Taiwan, 17 boxes of gasoline, 1 set of communication equipment, etc.
On the basis of "technical defense", increase the strength of "human defense". On the basis of improving forecasting and early warning technology, Taoyuan County has established an expert database for flood and drought disaster prevention composed of 146 veterans of water conservancy, veteran cadres, and veterans. Every five experts form a special team and are assigned to a township to provide technical guidance and strengthen Conduct risk analysis and assessment of geological disaster points, and promptly relocate residents within risk points. As of 19:00 on July 2, a total of 13,426 people have been evacuated from geological disasters in Taoyuan County.
The reporter also saw in Changzhou Township, Poyang County, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, located in Poyang Lake District, that a 30-person emergency commando team was formed locally, and each village formed a team of no less than 20 party members, cadres, and volunteers. The dike inspection team conducts a dike inspection every two hours.
In addition, the local government has also established an emergency support ledger to find out the base number of local excavators, forklifts and other engineering equipment, and dynamically grasp the location of engineering equipment to ensure that large engineering equipment can respond quickly to rescue after danger occurs.
Increasing efforts to make up for shortcomings in flood control
The reporter’s investigation found that while many places in the south are actively coping with this round of extreme weather, they are still facing greater pressure to fight floods. They should further investigate and fill the gaps to better cope with the possible flooding in some river basins in July. Warning flood.
The water levels of some small and medium-sized rivers have surged, and embankments continue to be under pressure. Reporters in Jiangxi learned that some sections of the Jinjiang River, a tributary of the Xiushui and Ganjiang Rivers, have exceeded the warning level for many days in a row. The Jinjiang River, which flows through Gao'an, Fengcheng and other densely populated and industrialized county cities, has also experienced flood peaks exceeding the highest water level in history. The dykes bear great pressure. For these small and medium-sized rivers that flow through densely populated areas, once the embankments fail, they will cause great losses to the towns along the coast.
Some of the interviewed cadres believe that in recent years, the state has invested heavily in embankment projects for large rivers. In contrast, small and medium-sized rivers have a wide range of points, and investment in embankment construction and management needs to be increased. Monitoring of embankments of small and medium-sized rivers needs to be strengthened simultaneously. In particular, embankments have been soaked and washed by high water levels for a long time, and the risk is often higher during the receding stage. At the same time, it is recommended to gradually improve the flood control standards of small and medium-sized rivers in the future to reduce safety risks.
The prevention of geological disasters is difficult. Affected by continuous rainfall, Jiangxi, Hunan and other provinces have recently experienced casualties caused by geological disasters. A landslide occurred in Xikou Town, Xiushui County, Jiujiang Province on June 23, causing a house to collapse and killing two people. Interviewees suggested that the combination of "human defense" and "technical defense" should be further strengthened to improve the monitoring and early warning capabilities of sudden disasters such as flash floods and geological disasters.
Wu Xuewen, director of the Flood Control and Drought Relief Division of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Emergency Management, said that geological disasters have a lag. After the rain has passed and the weather has cleared, a large amount of water in the soil and rocks has evaporated and loosened easily. Under the influence of gravity, geological disasters such as landslides and collapses are prone to occur. Therefore, it is also necessary to strengthen the key prevention of geological disaster risks after a disaster and not to take it lightly.
The people’s awareness and ability of disaster prevention need to be strengthened.The reporter learned in some key flood-disaster areas in the south that sometimes even if warnings are issued in advance, the public does not pay enough attention because the disaster has not yet occurred. "Everyone feels that the risk is not great, and it is difficult to mobilize in advance to avoid risks." Some grassroots cadres reported that the participation of ordinary people directly affects the effectiveness of early warning and forecasting by emergency departments.
Li Haojun suggested that emergency self-rescue publicity should not stop at verbal propaganda. He suggested strengthening the scene design of emergency education so that people, especially left-behind groups in rural areas, can participate in emergency drills to enhance the people's awareness of risk avoidance and self-rescue capabilities.
(Participating in the interview and writing: Yu Chunsheng, Zhou Nan, Zhou Mian, Liu Fangzhou, Jiang Gang, Chen Shangying, Yao Ziyun, Hu Rui, Pan Feng) ■
