Elephant News Reporter Xie Yuwei, Yang Can, Wang Zequn/Wen Tu
After experiencing heavy rain, Chongqing Wanzhou ushered in a sunny day. The city has also gradually returned to its former fireworks. However, in the resettlement site in Changtan Town, Wanzhou District, there are still some people who have been saddened by the death of their loved ones and their homes destroyed by the floods.
From July 3 to 4, 2023, Wanzhou District of Chongqing City was hit by heavy rain. According to the Wanzhou District Emergency Management Bureau, as of 10 o'clock on July 5, rainfall caused 36 towns and townships in Wanzhou District, including Wuqiao, Changling and Baiyang, to be affected, with 37,226 people affected, 11,578 people evacuated and 779 people urgently evacuated. The town of Long Beach also received the largest rainstorm in Chongqing's Wanzhou District since complete meteorological records began in 1956, and caused secondary disasters such as landslides.
At present, the Wanzhou flood geological disaster has caused 17 deaths and 2 missing people.
I saw flash floods destroy my home and bury my parents and nephews
Long Beach Junior High School was temporarily converted into a resettlement site after heavy rains, and nearby victims temporarily lived in student classrooms.
Mr. Sun leaned listlessly on the head of the bed, the fan in his hand fanning from time to time. People in his dormitory told Elephant News that Mr. Sun's family was killed in the flash flood.
Mr. Sun's family lives in Group 6 of Linchang Village, Long Beach Town, and at 6:30 a.m. on July 4, he got up to go to the toilet, and when he saw his mother returning from outside, he also scolded her mother, "What are you doing when it rains so much?" He never imagined that this would be the last conversation he had with his mother.
After Mr. Sun finished speaking, he turned and went upstairs, and when he stepped on the last step of the top floor, the torrent plunged down, destroying more than half of the family's house.
Mr. Sun's position was not affected by the flash flood and he escaped, but he watched as the torrent buried his parents and sleeping nephew in it, and he stood by and could do nothing.
Mr. Sun's father has just celebrated his 80th birthday, and his nephew has just completed the middle school entrance examination this year, so his nephew has been living in the mountain during this time, "On the first day of the accident, my sister-in-law also asked my nephew if he wanted to go back, but my nephew wanted to stay here for a few more days, so he didn't go down the mountain, who thought that this happened on the 4th." ”
Mr. Sun told Elephant News that his sister-in-law has been working abroad for many years, and his nephew has lived with his parents since he was a child, and the relationship between grandchildren is very good. After the nephew went to junior high school, the brother and sister-in-law also ended their life of wandering abroad, and came back to study with their nephew, and the family lived in Wuqiao. "My nephew's middle recruitment score this year is very good, more than 600 points, and he was admitted to the best high school in Wanzhou, who knew that such a thing happened."
On July 4, the remains of Mr. Sun's parents were found, and on the morning of July 6, the remains of his nephew were also found in a culvert near his home. Villagers in the same village told reporters that the body of Mr. Sun's nephew was found by the child's grandfather, "After his grandfather learned about the family's affairs, he rushed back from Shenzhen overnight to help find someone, when the culvert was blocked by rubble and bamboo, and it was difficult to find." ”
At present, the bodies of the three grandchildren are placed in the local funeral home, and Mr. Sun's brother has also returned from abroad to deal with the aftermath with his wife.
The elephant news reporter learned that Mr. Sun is still unmarried and previously worked in Sanmenxia Lingbao. In 2019, he contracted a neurological disease that caused his body to lose his mobility and had no choice but to return to his hometown. After several years of rehabilitation, Mr. Sun's health has improved, and he has been relying on the government's subsistence allowance and the care of his parents for the past two years.
The family suffered such a change, Mr. Sun could only lie in bed and watch his sister-in-law run before and after, but he could not do anything.
My father-in-law is still buried under the ruins of the "split" mountain
Compared with the families who found the bodies of the victims, Mr. Yu of the eighth group of Beach Village in Long Beach Town was extremely anxious.
"My father-in-law's bed has been dug up, but his body has not been found, and we are still waiting for news at the scene." On July 4, heavy rains triggered a landslide, under which Mr. Yu's father-in-law was buried.
As of July 6, the Wanzhou flood geological disaster has killed 17 people and left 2 missing. Mr. Yu's father-in-law was one of the missing.
Mr. Yu's father-in-law's house is in the beach village of Bamaota, and when the reporter came here, he saw that the towering mountain seemed to have been split by a knife, and the houses of several villagers were buried due to the impact of the landslide. According to rescuers, the collapse here is about tens of thousands of cubic meters, which is the largest landslide formed in this disaster.
Walking along the landslide towards Mr. Yu's father-in-law's house, there was rubble and loess everywhere, and occasionally you could see houses destroyed by the landslide. Because this place is built on the mountain, each house is separated by a certain distance, "There are 5 or 6 families buried here, and my father-in-law is the only one of these families who has lost contact." ”
Mr. Yu's father-in-law, surnamed Li, is 76 years old, and after his mother-in-law died 20 years ago, his father-in-law lived alone in the village. "At about 4 a.m. on July 4, Mr. Yu's parents heard a noise outside the house, got up to check, and found that a landslide had occurred on the hillside behind the house, and his father-in-law's house had been washed down.
The landslide occurred before dawn, and the disaster came too suddenly, and Mr. Yu's parents were overwhelmed for a while. "My parents were fine, they were scared." Mr. Yu's parents immediately called him to inform him, and their children had also returned from abroad.
"On the afternoon of July 6, rescuers told us that they were afraid of the risk of a second landslide, so they withdrew first." Mr. Yu said he wanted to find relatives and friends to dig together, but local cadres and emergency personnel stopped him. "Their rescuers have dug up my father-in-law's bed, hoping to continue searching, and our family has now accepted the news of my father-in-law's death, but still wants to find someone and dig up the body."
Luo Shicai, deputy director of the Wanzhou District Emergency Management Bureau, said that the local area has recently experienced many rounds of heavy rainfall, soil moisture saturation, and a new round of heavy rainfall is easy to induce flash floods, mudslides, landslides and other disasters again.
Rescuers also said that the landslide where Mr. Yu's father-in-law was buried had a large slope, and there was a risk of secondary collapse at the excavation site, and heavy machinery was difficult.
This is my hometown and I always have to do something for it
In the rescue team of the beach village of Barmoutha, a fat man in civilian clothes stands out. He was neither a nearby villager nor a local government worker, only telling reporters that he was a volunteer.
Rescuers at the scene said that the man, Xiong Changguo, had opened a local machinery and equipment rental company, and the excavators used at the rescue site were provided by him.
At 6 a.m. on July 4, Xiong Changguo received a notice from the Wanzhou municipal government, the local railway department, and China ANE Rescue, and urgently needed to organize equipment for rescue and rescue work. ”
After receiving the notice, Xiong Changguo immediately gathered more than ten colleagues from the company to help transport rescue equipment, and he also rushed to the scene to assist in rescue and excavation.
In order to timely deploy rescue equipment and ensure the transportation of oil, Xiong Changguo and others were on standby at the scene 24 hours a day to cooperate with the smooth progress of rescue work at various disaster-stricken points.
"Although I am doing equipment rental, I haven't thought about the cost at all in the past few days, I haven't thought about anything, I just want to contribute to my hometown, and I am really happy to see that the road is being dredged little by little with my own cooperation." Mr. Xiong said.
The rescue of the mountain is being carried out intensively, and the dredging of the Wuqiao street under the mountain is also orderly. "This is the closest I feel to a disaster." Ms. Diao, a resident of Wanzhou District, sighed, "Although we can't help much, I think I can contribute materials and materials, and if we can, we can contribute." ”
Ms. Diao, who runs several local fruit shops, took a truckload of watermelons with her staff to Wuqiao Street after the floodwaters receded to deliver local residents, volunteers and rescue forces. Looking at the scene of the military and civilians working together to clean up dredging, Ms. Diao also took her employees to participate.
"Labor protection shoes like those sold by uncles and widows can usually sell for 20 yuan a pair, but after being washed by water, we help them wash them, and basically sell them for 10 yuan a pair." Judging from the way they brushed the shoes, Ms. Diao and her staff were a little rusty, but they still soaked and washed them over and over again to restore the shoes to their original appearance.
Ms. Diao said that for the affected people, they will definitely feel warm and see hope when they see so many people helping and caring about this matter; For rescuers, we can help them reduce some work and stress; For me personally, I feel honored to be able to do something for my hometown, even if it is small.
"I feel like I've washed all my shoes for the rest of my life." One of Ms. Diao's employees said, "Although we are girls, we should also have responsibilities and responsibilities. ”
The memories still linger, but the days go on
Early on the morning of July 8, Hongxing Street on Wuqiao Street resumed its former hustle and bustle, and although traces of silt left by floodwaters could still be faintly seen on the ground, the street had been completely unblocked. Shops on both sides of the road are opening for business, with cars and pedestrians busy, and some merchants and residents are busy washing and drying their wares.
Many local people said that the last time they suffered serious waterlogging was in 2020. "This time it feels even more fierce than the one three years ago." A local resident surnamed Wang said, "This time I almost lost the five bridges." ”
A small river adjacent to Hongxing Street is called Wuqiao Creek, and walking upstream along the road by the river is the famous local Wujian Bridge. Previously, the water level had risen sharply due to heavy rainfall, but at this time the river level had dropped significantly, and some residents were cleaning up garbage on the bank. On the wall of the second floor of the riverside house, you can also see the water marks left by the flood water.
Mr. Wang, a nearby resident, said that because the Five Bridges are a stone arch bridge, its bridge hole is not large, and at that time, a lot of debris washed down with the flood, directly blocking the bridge hole, coupled with too much rain and water can not flow, causing waterlogging.
"In the past two days, the Chongqing armed police and rescue team have been helping us transfer and dredge, and now the water has receded and the ground is clean, so we have to continue to live." Mr. Wang said.
Residents in urban areas have gradually resumed their daily lives, while people in the mountains are still waiting for news of their return home in the resettlement sites. In the resettlement site of Long Beach Junior High School, some villagers are sitting in the corridor on the first floor to cooperate with volunteers to register information.
In a dormitory, several villagers sat together to discuss what had happened to the past two days. Mrs. Zeng told Elephant News that she was cooking alone at home on the morning of July 4. The heavy rain caused a landslide in front of her house, and the loud noise made her feel very scared, "At that time, the sound was so loud and the rain was so loud that I didn't dare to go out, and I felt that my heart was about to jump out." ”
Ma Jin, a 17-year-old young man, told the elephant news reporter that he took advantage of the summer vacation to return to Baiyan Village to see his grandmother, and on the morning of the 4th, he was sleeping in the house, and it was his grandmother who woke him up to the resettlement site. On the way, he saw trees on the mountain being washed down and stopped in the middle of the road. But fortunately, the house at home was not washed down, and taking advantage of the sunny day, he also went home to take a look, "The house has electricity, but the village official said that we will live here for at least a week, and we will wait for notice when we will go back, which is also to protect our safety." ”
After the flood disaster occurred in Wanzhou, the central ministries and commissions, Chongqing Municipality and Wanzhou District immediately launched emergency response to the flood geological disaster.
On the morning of the 5th, the National Defense General sent a working group led by Wang Daoxi, vice minister of emergency management and vice minister of water resources, to Chongqing Wanzhou to guide flood prevention and rescue and disaster relief work. At the same time, Chongqing Municipality allocated 29,571 sets of disaster relief materials to Wanzhou District.
In the past few days, Wanzhou District has dispatched more than 2,500 rescue forces from all walks of life to carry out rescue and disaster relief work, and at present, most of the disaster-stricken areas in Wanzhou District have been restored to transportation, water and electricity, and production and life are gradually recovering.
According to CCTV news reports, the National Defense General Working Group went to the scene of the mass resettlement sites in Wanchangtan Town and Zouma Town in Chongqing to check the disaster situation, and required local governments to actively carry out disaster relief and rescue, grasp the restoration of production and life, and make every effort to ensure that the affected people are properly resettled. In addition, Chongqing Charity Federation and Wanzhou District Charity Association launched the "Charity Fundraising for Wanzhou Flood Relief" project, aiming to care for the people affected by this rainstorm and hope that the majority of caring people will give support within their ability.