On April 20, a continuous heavy rainfall caused by a squall line swept across Guangdong from north to south in an "arcuate" path, resulting in heavy rains in many places in central and northern Guangdong Province and even local torrential rains. This is the second heavy rainfall in Guangdong since the flood season this year, and the rainfall area is highly overlapping with the previous round. Affected by this, the water level in the Beijiang River Basin in northern Guangdong Province has risen, and it is expected to usher in a once-in-50-year flood. There are 32 hydrological stations in the province that have exceeded the warning water level.
In the face of the raging flood, the Guangdong Provincial Defense General upgraded the flood control response level twice in a row on the same day, and finally upgraded to level II. At the same time, the Water Resources Department of Guangdong Province also upgraded the emergency response of water conservancy and flood control from Grade III to Grade II. Guangzhou, Shaoguan, Heyuan, Qingyuan and other places have also started or improved flood emergency response, and issued early warning signals one after another.
The heavy rainfall continues, the water level of rivers rises sharply, and the flood control and rescue work is being carried out against time. Government departments at all levels stick to their posts, and emergency rescue teams rush to the front line of flood control to build a solid defense line with the broad masses of the people to protect the safety of thousands of households.
The whole territory of Guangdong is ready to go all out to meet the challenge of heavy rainfall. As of April 19th, the accumulated rainfall of large-scale stations in central and northern Guangdong in April has reached a record high in the same period. By 8: 00 on the 20th, the accumulated rainfall in Shaoguan in April had reached 584.4 mm, far exceeding the historical record in the same period. With the continuous heavy rainfall, there may be more areas in central and northern Guangdong to refresh the historical extreme value of rainfall in April.
On the morning of 20th, Guangdong Provincial Defense General upgraded the emergency response to flood control from Grade IV to Grade III, and then upgraded it to Grade II again that night. On that day, a total of 11 rivers in the province experienced super-alarm floods, and the emergency response of water conservancy and flood control in the province was also upgraded to Grade II. Under the severe defense situation, all departments in Guangdong acted quickly and devoted themselves to heavy rainfall prevention and emergency rescue with a high sense of responsibility.
The emergency command center of the Guangdong Provincial Emergency Management Department is brightly lit all night, and the staff is on duty 24 hours a day, paying close attention to the rain and flood situation in the province and the real-time situation of major water conservancy projects. A dispatch telephone keeps dialing to key areas to command and dispatch all localities to do defense work. The Water Resources Department of Guangdong Province closely monitors the defense dynamics in various places and scientifically dispatches water projects, such as dispatching Feilaixia Reservoir and Lechangxia Reservoir in Beijiang in recent days to pre-discharge the reservoirs in advance, effectively exerting the flood control and disaster reduction functions of water conservancy projects. At the grassroots level, various defensive measures are deployed and implemented intensively.
Foshan Nanhai, Shunde, Gaoming and other places launched a Class III emergency response to prevent rainstorms, and strengthened inspections of urban waterlogging sites, hidden dangers of geological disasters, dilapidated houses, construction sites, temporary sheds and other places. The water level in Qingyuan continues to rise, so it is urgent to transfer the masses urgently. By noon on the 20th, Yingde had transferred 1963 people in advance, and by 15: 00 that day, Feilaixia Town in Qingcheng District had transferred 119 people in advance.
In the face of disasters such as waterlogging and landslides caused by heavy rainfall, rescue forces responded quickly and transferred the trapped people in time. For example, on the evening of April 19th, Zhaoqing Fire Department received an alarm, and there was an old man in the old town of Wei Town, Aozai Town, Huaiji County who needed to be transferred urgently because of water in his home. After the firefighters arrived at the scene, they found that there was serious waterlogging in the house and surrounding areas, and three people were trapped. Firefighters quickly assessed the rescue route and successfully moved the trapped people to a safe place after doing a good job of safety protection.
At 10: 00 am on April 20th, a seriously ill old man was trapped at home due to rising water at No.22 Dongfeng Road, Maba Town, qujiang district, Shaoguan City. The fire rescue station immediately went to the rescue after receiving the report. In the face of rising water, rescuers carried stretchers and braved the water to go deep into the trapped place. The deepest part of the accumulated water is close to the thigh, and the rescuers steadily lift the stretcher and wade step by step to safely send the elderly to the ambulance.
Continuous heavy rainfall caused landslides in jiangwan town, Wujiang, Shaoguan. Liu Yanhui, director of Guangdong Geological Disaster Emergency Rescue Technology Center, said that the center has sent professional and technical personnel to the site for emergency investigation and disposal to provide technical support for rescue work. Liu Yanhui specially reminded that the current rainstorm process is still going on, the soil water content is saturated, and the risk of secondary disasters such as urban and rural waterlogging, flash floods, mudslides, landslides and collapses is extremely high. He called on the masses to stay away from risk areas such as waterlogging-prone low-lying areas, geological disaster-prone areas and mountain torrents-prone areas, not to risk wading, strictly abide by the instructions of transferring and avoiding risks, and not to return without authorization before the danger is lifted to ensure personal safety.
Heavy rainfall has a certain impact on transportation and power supply. As of press time, traffic control has been implemented in many sections of Guangdong Province. In this regard, all localities and departments actively responded, striving to minimize the impact of heavy rainfall on people’s lives and disaster losses.
For example, the railway department takes measures to stop and turn back the ordinary speed trains passing through Shaoguan of Beijing-Guangzhou Railway to ensure the safety of trains and passengers. At the same time, from 10: 00 to 18: 00 on April 21, some ordinary trains passing through the Beijing-Kowloon Railway were stopped. Starting from the morning of the 20th, the railway department and the local government carried out transshipment for the affected passengers in Shaoguan East, Hengyang, Chenzhou and other railway stations of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, and minimized the impact on passengers’ travel by adding high-speed trains, adding stops along the way, and using empty seats of existing trains.
On April 20th, China Southern Airlines Guangzhou launched a red warning of large-scale flight delay. The staff of China Southern Airlines answered the questions of transit passengers on the spot, assisted in the change procedures, and set up a baggage claim area for canceling flights at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, adding more manpower to help passengers quickly claim their luggage.
Guangdong Power Grid Corporation of China Southern Power Grid started the Level II response of wind and flood prevention at 19: 00 on April 20th. According to Wei Ruizeng, an expert from the Equipment and Environment Monitoring and Evaluation Institute of Guangdong Electric Power Research Institute of China Southern Power Grid, 3,448 potential flood hazards have been identified, and early warning information has been sent to front-line operation and maintenance personnel. By 16: 00 on the same day, Guangdong Power Grid Corporation of China Southern Power Grid had dispatched 3,769 emergency repair personnel, 1,278 emergency repair vehicles and 14 emergency power generation vehicles. More than 70% of the 610,000 users in Guangdong Province affected by the rainstorm have resumed power supply.
A 20-meter-long dam in Dongfengwei, Daping Village, Gushui Town, Guang Ningxian, Zhaoqing was destroyed by the flood, which affected about 300 villagers in five natural villages, including Jiangtou Village, Youyu Village, Duiwu Village, Longjiang Village and Hongwei Village, and flooded about 100 mu of farmland. Gushui Town immediately launched an emergency plan, organized more than 100 people, including emergency teams and party member people, to go to the affected villages for emergency rescue, and dispatched rubber boats to help the surrounding people pass.
Zhaoqing City, Guang Ningxian Emergency Management Bureau and County Water Conservancy Bureau quickly arrived at the scene to determine the emergency repair plan together with the local town government. Rescuers, hook machines and transport vehicles were quickly assembled, and a 24-hour shift system was implemented for emergency repair. As of press time, the gap at the bottom of the dam has been repaired.
The whole province of Guangdong, with one heart and one mind, resolutely performs its duties of flood control and disaster relief, goes all out to do the most important flood control and disaster relief work at present, and is confident and capable of winning this heavy rainfall defense war.
