Relief efforts underway in flood-hit county

Fresh floodwaters swept through Rongjiang county in Southwest China's Guizhou province on Saturday afternoon, just days after Tuesday's deluge, but by 10 am on Sunday, authorities had ended the highest-level flood control response, and clearing and rebuilding efforts had begun.

At 11 am on Saturday, the county's flood control office had ordered residents in seven major flood zones to evacuate immediately, and it announced designated escape routes, sending rescue teams to conduct door-to-door checks. About an hour later, the office upgraded the response to its highest level.

Aerial photographs taken around 5 pm showed water inundating multiple areas of the county.

By 6 pm, officials said that 41,574 people from 11,992 households had been relocated — 39,062 residents from the county's urban areas and 2,512 from townships.

At 6:30 pm, a hydrological station on the Duliu River in the county recorded a water level of 253.06 meters — 1.56 meters above the guaranteed safety level of 251.5 meters — and a flow rate of 8,000 cubic meters per second.

With floodwaters receding later Saturday night, dredging operations began. Teams from Guiyang, the provincial capital, and neighboring counties joined local crews to clear debris.

More than 1,000 additional soldiers from the Guizhou Provincial Corps of the People's Armed Police Force were sent with heavy machinery to strengthen relief efforts in Rongjiang.

"To support around-the-clock dredging, we're preparing generators to light up key streets," said a member of the power bureau rescue team from nearby Majiang county.

By noon on Sunday, the local government had mobilized 5,043 personnel and 202 machines. They cleared 124,858 square meters of sediment and reopened 52 roads spanning 60.8 kilometers.

Days of continuous rainfall and flooding had also caused road inundation, washed-out embankments and collapsed slopes. To keep rescue routes open, the provincial transportation department formed a repair team of more than 200 workers to restore 141 damaged sections of 41 township roads.

In Zhongcheng township, about nine kilometers from the county seat, damage was lighter, so the township quickly became a central kitchen for relief operations.

"We've been sending hot meals to the front line nonstop," said Yang Shengtao, Party secretary of the township. "Our canteen pots have been on since 8 am. ... Some cooks' hands are cramping, so we set up shifts to keep them fresh."

Yang added that local soccer team cheerleaders and volunteers were their main workforce.

According to the Guizhou Meteorological Service, from 8 am on Friday to 4 pm on Saturday, the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture experienced heavy to torrential rainfall. Combined with upstream inflows, river levels on the Duliu River rose sharply again.

Rongjiang's location at the confluence of the Duliu, Zhaihao and Pingyong rivers — and its steep, mountainous terrain — caused rainwater to funnel quickly.

"Rainfall in the Duliu River basin will decrease significantly, but secondary disasters remain a concern," the bureau said in a forecast released at around 6 pm on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, the National Development and Reform Commission announced that following an initial emergency allocation of 100 million yuan ($13.95 million), it would provide an additional 100 million yuan from the central budget to help flood-hit Guizhou.

The funds will support infrastructure and public service restoration, especially in Qiandongnan's Rongjiang and Congjiang counties, as well as Sandu county in the Qiannan Bouyei and Miao autonomous prefecture, to help residents resume normal life as quickly as possible.

Nationwide, heavy rainfall is expected to continue. The National Meteorological Center has forecast that from Sunday to Monday, Si-chuan and Gansu provinces and Chongqing will see heavy to torrential downpours, with some areas seeing extreme rain and isolated superstorms.

On Saturday, the China Meteorological Administration upgraded its rainstorm emergency response from Level IV to Level III, the second-lowest on China's four-tier heavy rain emergency response system, calling for vigilance against flash floods, geological disasters, flooding and urban waterlogging.

Contact the writers at liuboqian@chinadaily.com.cn