In Zou Qiang's impression, the rain rained for almost three or four days in a row.
His homestay, which runs on the bank of a river in Jiangwan Township, Wujiang District, Shaoguan City, rose on April 18 but then receded.
He told Nanfeng Window that on April 19, the rain continued to fall and the river rose again. That night, the rain continued overnight, and on the 20th, the river continued to rise until it flooded Zou Qiang's hotel and half of his homestay.
Also at 9 o'clock in the morning of the 20th, a landslide occurred on the other side of the river at Zou Qiang's homestay, washing away three houses at the bottom of the hillside. Subsequently, they lost contact with the outside world until the afternoon of the 21st, when some communications were gradually restored.
On the evening of the 21st, when the reporter from Nanfeng Window called Zou Qiang, he said that the water had receded a little and the rescuers had arrived. Off-road vehicles can go on the roads in the town, but cars can't, and there is mud and water.
CCTV news news, since April 18, most of Guangdong Province has experienced heavy rains to heavy rains, and local heavy rains. Affected by this, a total of 44 rivers in the Pearl River basin have experienced super-alert floods, mountain floods and geological disasters are frequent, and waterlogging has occurred in some cities and towns.
According to the Guangdong Provincial Department of Water Resources, due to heavy rainfall, the Beijiang River basin will experience floods close to once in a century.
At 10 o'clock on the third day of the heavy rainfall process, the Guangdong Provincial Flood Control and Drought and Wind Control General Headquarters decided to upgrade the flood control level IV emergency response to level III, and at 11 o'clock, the flood control emergency response of Shaoguan City was upgraded to level II. At 19 o'clock that night, Guangdong's flood control emergency response was once again upgraded to Level II (the highest was Level I).
Among them, Shaoguan is one of the centers of this heavy precipitation process.
Adverse weather caused secondary disasters that further hampered rescue. Affected by heavy rainfall, many landslides occurred in Jiangwan Town, Wujiang District, Shaoguan, Guangdong, affecting 6 villages and trapping people. Communication in Jiangwan Town was interrupted for a time.
A number of landslides occurred in Jiangwan Town, Wujiang District, Shaoguan, Guangdong Province / Source: CCTV News
At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st, the Wujiang District Government Office of Shaoguan City told the media that Jiangwan Town had lost contact because the communication cable was interrupted, and the communication had been restored.
The only road leading to Jiangwan Town was blocked, including "about 13 kilometers of road", blocked by silt and fallen trees. In this case, while the rescuers rushed to repair the road, they also sent some personnel to enter Jiangwan Town on foot to rescue the emergency. Finally, in the early morning of the 22nd, more than 10 kilometers of obstacles were cleared, and the assembled rescue forces were involved in the "isolated island" rescue as soon as possible.
Affected by the continuous heavy rainfall, some areas of Guangdong have collapsed houses, roads have been interrupted, landslides and other dangerous situations and disasters, and people have been trapped and lost contact in some areas. The heavy rainfall is mainly concentrated in the Beijiang River Basin, and the upstream rainfall collection area is wide, and the river flood in the Shaoguan River has risen rapidly, making it one of the cities with the greatest impact of this round of rainfall and the most concentrated danger and disaster. Rescue is urgent. Guangdong's heavy rainfall prevention and rescue efforts have been made in a comprehensive and timely manner, and phased results have been achieved. Guangdong is speeding up the opening of the main passages into towns and villages, properly arranging the basic livelihood of the transferred masses, and doing a good job in providing various services with heart and affection.
Dangerous landslides
In Zou Qiang's memory, in previous years, although there was a lot of rain in the local area, "the rain in April will not be so heavy, and this year is relatively rare." He said that the area around Jiangwan Town is full of mountains, and the water in the mountains is all flowing into the river, "and the landslide causes the silt to go down into the river, and the water rises."
The flood water that broke out of the river flooded half of Zou Qiang's homestay and an entire hotel. The loss of the B&B is not big, but the hotel is serious. Because the terrain of the hotel is relatively low. "When it was flooded, the water level was about 2.5 meters. Zou Qiang told Nanfeng Window that all the things in the restaurant were blistered, "five or six refrigerators, and wine and cigarettes in the warehouse."
Zou Qiang said that there were two landslides he observed on the other side of the river, but only one hit the house. There was no one at the other landslide, just an ancillary of a small hydroelectric power station.
According to Zou Qiang's observations, the width of the landslide should be 70-80 meters.
The location of the landslide is located on the opposite bank near the Huyang Village Committee, and houses are buried / Source: Photo provided by the interviewee
Zou Qiang was nearby when the landslide occurred, and he saw that the entire hillside had slid down there. The slope is not very steep, with bamboo and a lot of vegetation on it. "But there were almost no stones on that hillside, it was all dirt. He said.
Zou Qiang recalled to the south window that there had been a small landslide in the vicinity of the area where the landslide occurred, but it was about forty or fifty meters away from the landslide site. This is the first time this has happened at the landslide site.
Like Zou Qiang, Ma Ping also opened a homestay in Jiangwan Town, but at the time of the incident, he lived in Foshan and his family was in Jiangwan. His B&B has five floors, the first floor is a KTV and mahjong room, the second and third floors are self-occupied, and the guest rooms are on the fourth and fifth floors, with a total of 16 rooms.
Maping's B&B / Image source network
He told Nanfeng Window that the equipment, refrigerator and other electrical appliances of the KTV on the first floor were "all soaked". "More than 100,000 (losses) are about the same. Ma Ping said, "Property damage is not a big problem, the main life safety is fine."
This is not the first time that the equipment on the first floor has been damaged by flooding. On June 19, 2022, the city of Shaoguan experienced a once-in-a-20-year flood, which Ma Ping called the June 19 flood. The equipment of the KTV on the first floor of the B&B was also damaged, "losing seventy or eighty thousand". Ma Ping said that at that time, the water level in his home was one meter, but this time, he thought it was about one meter five.
The water level of Ma Ping's home in the June 19, 2022 flood / Source: Photo provided by the interviewee
The town is lost
On the day of the landslide, communications and water and electricity in Jiangwan Town were cut off.
Zhu Yulong has not been able to contact his family in Guoxi Village, Jiangwan Town, since the 20th, the phone cannot be reached, and the message has not been replied. Until the evening of the 21st, it was still impossible to contact.
On weekdays, Zhu Yulong works in Maba Town, Shaoguan City, and his family is in Jiangwan Guoxi Village. Because he was in a hurry, on the afternoon of the 21st, he tried to drive to his home, but when he reached Tada Village, the road was cut off.
"The landslide blocked the road, and there were rescuers at the scene clearing the obstacles, but then I couldn't help it, so I went back again. He said.
The roadside guardrail leading to Jiangwan Town was washed away / Source: Southern Metropolis Daily
However, on the 21st, news came out in the village, saying that his family was fine, and there were no landslides and floods near the village, but there was no signal for power and water outages, and there was no way to contact the outside world.
Like Zhu Yulong, Ma Ping also started practicing on the 20th and couldn't tie his family. From the 20th to the 21st, Ma Ping made no less than ten phone calls to his mother, who lived in Jiangwan Town. "I'm worried to death," Ma Ping said.
On the morning of the 20th, he and his relatives began talking on the phone. When the first wave of floods came, Ma Ping was still asking how high the water level was. The phone was calling, and the relatives said that the second wave of floods was coming, and then the signal was completely cut off.
On the evening of the 21st, Ma Ping told Nanfeng Window that the village chief reported safety to everyone in the group, saying that there was no damage to people and property. But he has not been able to contact his mother, and Ma Ping still feels uneasy. Ma Ping's house is more than two meters empty, and there is a garage underneath. "Lock the gate and get the water in. ”
In the past two days, Ma Ping has been answering the phone. His phone number was hung up on the Internet as the contact information of the homestay, and many people called Ma Ping, hoping to find the missing family members living in Jiangwan Town through him. Several of them are teachers who teach in primary and secondary schools in Jiangwan Town, and one is Dr. Cheng, who has been working in Jiangwan Hospital from Jiangxi for two or three years.
Ma Ping called him Lao Cheng, who had recently returned home from Jiangxi on the morning of April 20. Ma Ping said that Lao Chen was blocked on the road, and his family could not contact him.
According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, on the afternoon of the 21st, the composite wing UAV carried a mobile public network base station and flew 800 meters above the core area of Jiangwan Town, with a radius of 200 meters, to build a communication network covering 20 square kilometers.
On the evening of the 20th, Zou Qiang's family lived at home, because of the power outage, they lit spare candles for lighting, and then used the gas canister at home to cook and eat.
For those who have been relocated, Zou Qiang said that there are two temporary resettlement sites arranged by the government in the town, "one in the market and the other in the Huyang village committee."
The rescue team arrived at about 1 a.m. on the 21st, and Zou Qiang heard that they walked seven or eight kilometers to come in, because the road into the town was interrupted, "The car can't pass, so people can only arrive first." ”
They were rescuers who came on foot. In an interview with the media, relevant personnel from the Propaganda Department of the Wujiang District Party Committee of Shaoguan City said that on the afternoon of April 20, rescuers decided to enter Jiangwan Town, where communication was interrupted, to clear the road and carry out rescue.
CCTV News reported on the 21st, "More than 80 rescuers who entered Jiangwan Town on foot have also arrived at the scene to carry out rescue after a day and a night's march." ”
More than 80 rescuers who entered Jiangwan Town on foot arrived at the scene after a day and a night of marching to carry out rescue / Source: CCTV News
In addition, on the 20th and 21st, helicopters came to deliver people and supplies, and Zou Qiang saw that Jiangwan Town Middle School was an airport for temporary helicopters. "I don't know how many have come, but I've been flying today. He said.
The above report mentioned that more than 300 rescue team members were organized in Shaoguan to participate in the rescue, and in addition, the helicopter also transported two rescue and maintenance signal personnel and two base stations to the scene to strive for the fastest time to restore communication. Medicine, mineral water, food, bedding and other supplies also arrived in Jiangwan Town.
The road has been opened and rescue has entered
The road to Jiangwan Town starts from Tada Village, Longgui Town. Li Jianguo, a native of Duotian Village, told Nanfeng Window that at four or five o'clock in the afternoon of April 20, the rescue team began to build a road between Longgui Town and Jiangwan Town, and by the evening of the 21st, it had already repaired five or six kilometers, nearly half the distance.
The work of clearing the road is extremely difficult. The road was blocked by silt and fallen trees, and Guangdong News Broadcasting reported at 17 o'clock on the 21st that a total of 11 collapse points were detected at that time, and about 13 kilometers of roads were blocked, and after emergency repairs, "about 5 kilometers were cleared."
In addition, the road is narrow, unable to meet the simultaneous excavation of multiple heavy machinery, and the progress of the wrecker removal work is difficult, "will be repaired overnight". It is understood that when the road was repaired, the rescuers gathered on the side of the road in the rear and waited for the first time to enter the rescue.
Night and day, without fear of wind and rain, the blocked roads were cleared of obstacles as quickly as possible.
In the early hours of the morning, the road was finally opened. According to Nanfang Daily, in the early morning of the 22nd, the only road into the town where dozens of landslides occurred has been temporarily opened, and in the morning, at a collapse site, firefighters are carrying out rescue work.
Road wreckers are working intensively / Source: Southern Metropolis Daily
Li Jianguo said that on the morning of the 21st, he received an evacuation notice and went to Fengtian Primary School, which is on higher ground. Because his family originally lived in a high place, and there were two elderly people in their 70s who had inconvenient legs and feet, Li Jianguo did not leave.
Luckily, the family was fine.
This is also something that makes Zou Qiang feel lucky, his family is safe, and his homestay has not picked up guests in the past two days. This is also because he saw the weather warning that there was heavy rain, "so he didn't answer it, and he didn't dare to answer it."
On the evening of the 21st, Zou Qiang told reporters that the rain has not completely stopped, intermittently, but not much, but the river has receded a lot.
As of press time, the latest situation in Jiangwan Town is that with the rescue lifeline basically opened up, the rescue forces and materials have arrived, and the most difficult time has passed. The river has stopped rising and some local residents have returned to their homes and started to open their doors to clear the mud in front of them.
Compared with previous years, the rainfall in the south this year is more and more intense, and the cumulative precipitation in many places has exceeded the historical record in April.
Multiple factors have led to more and more intense rainfall in the south recently. Ma Xueyuan, chief forecaster of the Central Meteorological Observatory, told the media that since April, the subtropical high has been stronger than the same period in normal years, which is conducive to the transport of water vapor from the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal to the southern region, while the plateau trough and southern branch system are active, resulting in frequent heavy precipitation processes and long precipitation duration in the southern region.
The Central Meteorological Observatory issued a short-term heavy precipitation warning / Source: Central Meteorological Observatory
In addition, the temperature in Jiangnan and South China is significantly higher than that of the same period in normal years, and the atmospheric water content is abundant and the unstable energy is high, resulting in strong convection development and high rainfall intensity, and the cumulative precipitation in many places broke the historical record in April.
In addition, this wave of rain has not yet reached its final season. Ma Xueqian reminded that in the next few days, there will be many heavy precipitation processes in the southern part of the mainland, local rain will be strong, and may be accompanied by hail weather, and the public should pay attention to the forecast and warning information issued by the local meteorological department in time.
The Central Meteorological Observatory predicts that in late April, the rainfall in Jiangnan and South China will be significantly more than that of strong convective weather, and the precipitation will be 5 to 8 percent more than that of the same period in normal years, and more than 1 times more in some areas.
On the 22nd, the scope of heavy rainfall in Jiangnan and southern China will shrink, but the precipitation will not completely stop. The Central Meteorological Observatory issued a blue warning for severe convective weather and a yellow warning for heavy rain at 10 a.m. on April 22, including parts of Guangdong.
The Guangdong Meteorological Service Center released information at 20 o'clock on April 21, saying that heavy precipitation in Guangdong in the coming week will be frequent, the cumulative rainfall will be large, and it is extreme and the risk of disaster still needs to be taken precautions.
(Zou Qiang, Zhu Yulong, Ma Ping, and Li Jianguo are pseudonyms in the article)
Author | He Guosheng
Intern: Han Xiao, Zhang Yu
Editor-in-Chief on Duty | Zhao Jinghan
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