People's Daily: China shows its strength in flood fighting

None of the large and medium-sized reservoirs broke their DAMS, and none of the main dikes of major rivers broke

2016: China's strength in flood fighting

  Our reporter Zhao Yongping Wang Hao

  People's Daily (December 22, 2016 Edition 01)

  

This year's flood season is unusual.

It was a thrilling ordeal of flooding: rain, rain, from south to north, one after another, 51 heavy downpours. Rain is rare, the flood situation is urgent. The Yangtze River and Taihu Lake were flooded. 473 rivers in China were flooded, and 192 cities were inundated. The magnitude and scope of the flood reached the highest level in nearly 20 years.

The flood fight has not been easy.

This is a commendable flood "answer sheet" : a flood hit, united, scientific prevention and control, large and medium-sized reservoirs no dam collapse, major river dikes no breach, 2016 flood relief and disaster relief achieved comprehensive victory. Compared with the average of the same period since 2000, the area affected by crops, the affected population, the dead population and the collapsed houses decreased by 14\%, 27\%, 49\% and 57\% respectively.

Work together to build the "levee of responsibility" and gather a strong synergy to overcome the flood

"It's like a leak in heaven. It's raining so hard." Tu Lunhai, Tuhe Village, Xinzhou District, Wuhan, Hubei is still fresh in my memory. From June 30, Wuhan received 581 mm of rain in 7 days, and the river level rose rapidly. Wuhan was in emergency!

The severe flood situation is not limited to Wuhan. Poyang Lake is in danger, Dongting Lake is in danger, the Yangtze River is in danger, Taihu Lake is in danger... Will the "98" flood repeat itself? How to win the hard battle? Flood control and flood fighting are facing unprecedented tests.

We should give top priority to ensuring the safety of people's lives, tighten up on preventing floods, fighting floods, seizing major risks and rescuing major disasters, and further strengthen measures and fulfill our responsibilities. This has pointed out the direction and strengthened our confidence for the overall victory in flood control and flood fighting.

Premier Li Keqiang went to flood-fighting sites in the Yangtze River and Huaihe River basins to make arrangements for flood control, flood fighting, rescue and relief work.

We will work together to fulfill our responsibilities.

Once into the flood season, the national general command center will switch to the "24 hours" mode, a pair of eyes to keep an eye on the weather changes, a piece of information insight into the water and rain, a command command flood control.

From central to local, responsibility is compacted. It is the duty of general and territorial control of the seven river basins. Provinces, cities, counties at all levels of prevention responsibility layer by layer transmission, build strong flood control and flood fighting "responsibility levees".

This year, the State Headquarters for flood Control published the list of persons in charge of flood control for major rivers, large and key reservoirs, and key flood control cities one month in advance for public supervision. To ensure the safety of the Yangtze River levees, the National Defense Chief for the first time released a list of 885 township officials responsible for key sections of the river, with special personnel assigned to take care of each section.

In Jiangxinzhou, Jiujiang County, Jiangxi Province, Chen Shichao, Party secretary of Jiangzhou Town, pointed to the dike at his feet and said that this was the site of the 1998 breach. This year, posts will be set up every 200 meters, with six inspectors at each post. "With the further development of science and technology, every dike and every danger can not be separated from people. We must step on it step by step, inch by inch." Chen Shichao said.

Wuhan Dragon King Temple, 18 years later, the river set up a "life and death card" : "people in the dike, vow to live and die together with the levee". Has been the Jianghan District water administration supervision brigade captain Tang Renqing said: "' 98 flood fighting 'when we are guarding the dike, now or, as long as the dry move, it is necessary to stand this post!"

All localities and departments coordinated attack, efficient and orderly. Party members and cadres spearheaded the charge, the people's army bravely took the lead, and the masses actively helped themselves. At the peak of flood control, 4 million people in the five provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River stood on the front line of the main dike, including 3.7 million people, 200 thousand government officials and 100 thousand soldiers.

Unite as one, act quickly, gather up the strong force of flood relief, draw a magnificent flood fighting picture.

Scientific scheduling, the backbone of the project flood cutting peak, "hard card" in the grip of the flood

Flood is a big test, test the comprehensive strength of flood control and flood fighting.

"This year the water will not panic!" Zheng Hao, Jinting Town, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, said: "In 1999, the flood, it can be said that 'washed away a granary, flooded a bank'. Now, with the same flood, things are very different."

With the increase of national strength, flood control and flood fighting capabilities have changed. "Now you have 'hard cards' in your hand and confidence in your heart!" National defense Office inspector, spokesman Zhang Jiatuan admitted.

-- Scientific scheduling is more accurate and precise.

Why elaborate? The water level of 0.11 meters means the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in some sections of the river.

On July 1, the No.1 flood peak of the Yangtze River formed, and by July 7, the water level at Lianhuatang Station had risen to 34.29 meters. If the water level rises another 0.11 meters, two flood storage and detention areas will be activated, and the affected population will reach 380,000. How to block the flood, how much discharge, involving upstream and downstream, left and right banks, behind each dispatch order, contains scientific research and judgment, contains wisdom and responsibility.

Fine scheduling, precision must be more. The national General Manager of the decisive decision, the Three Gorges reservoir control to 20000 cubic meters per second, cut the peak 38 %, upstream reservoir group joint operation, reduce the Dongting Lake mouth peak water level of 0.7 meters, Wuhan below the river level of 0.2-0.4 meters, the realization of Chenglingji near the flood storage and detention area, the upper Jingjiang River reach not over the alarm.

What is fine? Taihu Lake flood control, the water level is accurate to three decimal places. Officials said that a change in the water level of Taihu Lake 1 centimeter is more than 23 million cubic meters of water, equivalent to two medium-sized reservoirs. "To deal with excessive floods, the scheduling scheme must be calculated repeatedly."

This year's flood season, the national flood prevention and typhoon emergency response started 19 times, the watershed prevention and provincial prevention refers to the release of more than 3000 dispatch instructions. It is a fine dispatch, blocking the peak, to turn the flood into invisible.

Water conservancy projects have built "walls of iron".

"If there is no reservoir to stop the flood, the consequences are unimaginable." Luo Yijun, director of Hunan Provincial Prevention Office, said that this year the Zhexi reservoir blocked more than 500 million cubic meters of flood water, cutting peak 75 %. Otherwise, the downstream of the river will be overflowed, Yiyang City, Taojiang county will suffer catastrophic disaster.

Today, reinforced dikes build the Great Wall of water, the reservoir has become a fortress, and the backbone of flood control projects show the strength of steel. On the Yangtze River, 21 reservoirs have been combined, freeing up 36.3 billion cubic meters of reservoir capacity before the flood and easing pressure on flood control. During the flood prevention of Ganjiang River and Yuanshui River, 9.5 billion cubic meters of flood were blocked in the reservoir. It is with the strong barrier of the backbone project, the flood can disappear in the rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

-- "Power Brain" underpins decision science.

Hard battle against flood reflects soft power.

In the flood measurement line, the staff of Fujian Jiangle Hydrology Station worked hard continuously. On the night of May 8, the over-protection flood forecast was made 10 hours in advance. Ten precious hours, to buy time for the mass movement, and ultimately no civilian casualties.

Accurate detection is the "vanguard of the eyes and ears". There are 99,500 hydrological stations of various types in China, forming a network of powerful hydrographic stations covering rivers, lakes and reservoirs. "Every single number matters on the front line. The accuracy of water forecast can reach within a few hundred cubic meters, and the accuracy of water level forecast can reach within a centimeter, with an accuracy of 99 %." Said Liu Zhiyu, director of the hydrologic Information and Forecast Center of the Ministry of Water Resources.

A series of modern information systems, such as remote consultation and hydrological survey and report, have become the "strongest brain" for scientific flood control. This year's flood season, it is a timely and accurate forecast, so that flood control decisions "strategize, decisive victory thousands of miles".

The catastrophic flood in 2016, compared with the history, the disaster mark is significantly reduced. In 1998, there were more than 9,000 dangerous cases on the Yangtze River's main dike, but this year, there were only 50 ordinary dangerous cases. This year's catastrophic flood in Taihu Lake, the direct economic loss accounted for 0.12\% of the basin's GDP, much lower than the 6.7\% in 1991, and created a miracle that no one died due to the disaster.

Emergency transfer does not leak a household, does not fall a person, "people-oriented" through the whole process of flood control and flood fighting

"The safety of people's lives in the first place," this year's flood control and flood relief projects, the concept of people-oriented, life first throughout the whole process.

The first warning, time is life. May 19, Guangxi Yulin City Rong County Li township hit heavy rain, flash flood is coming. At 10 am on the 20th, Huang Xianli, the party secretary of Rongfeng Village, received an early warning message and immediately sounded the alarm to inform the villagers to move. The whole village people, in this "life and death speed" in front of the mountain flood, to achieve zero casualties.

Similar early warning platforms have been built in 29 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and 2,058 counties, and mountain flood disaster prevention and control area monitoring networks have covered 150 million people. During this year's flood season, more than 49,000 mountain flood disaster warnings have been issued nationwide, and nearly 90,000 early warning broadcasts have been launched. Timely warnings, rapid evacuation and risk aversion have been put in place, winning the initiative to ensure the safety of people's lives.

Forethought stands, failure fails. Quickly start the plan, quickly assemble the team, the execution is more effective. On June 20, the risk of a Xiangyangwei mouth collapse in Poyang County of Jiangxi Province increased dramatically. At 19:10, the county had issued an emergency transfer order and launched an emergency plan. More than 4,000 county and village officials moved quickly to make sure no one was left behind.

During this year's flood season, 5.39 million people were evacuated from mountain torches and 7.75 million from typhoons, more than the total population of a medium-sized European country. It is better to listen to scolds than cries. It is better to cover villages and not a single household or a single person is left behind. These high-intensity work highlights the people's firm belief that life safety is above all else.

The flood waters receded and the rivers became quiet. This victory in flood control and flood fighting has made a significant contribution to the safety of people's lives and property, and laid a solid foundation for the steady and healthy development of the economy and society and the good start of the 13th Five-Year Plan.

Author: Editor: Wei Yongjing