HEFEI, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Situated
along the Yangtze River, China's longest waterway, Walong village has a
history of enduring multiple floods, during which every household sends
representatives to patrol the river bank. "Since
the water exceeded the warning level on July 5, we have been patrolling
along the bank of the Yangtze River around the clock," said Hu Mingzhe,
director of the villagers' committee of Walong, Dongzhi County, in east
China's Anhui Province. Patrollers
use long bamboo sticks or shovels to remove weeds at the bottom of the
levee and carefully examine if there is any water leakage on the ground.
Villagers patrol the bank in three shifts, with five people in each
shift. "If muddy water is flowing
out from the bottom of the embankment, that's very dangerous. The
flowing water washes away dirt in the structure and erodes the entire
embankment," Hu said. Hu and his
fellow villagers are responsible for the safety of a 500-meter-long
embankment. If there is a leak, they need to notify the authorities
immediately, because any leakage could cause the dike to collapse. On
the embankment, flood control watch-houses, made of tents, have been
set up every 500 meters to ensure that any emergency can be handled
promptly. Each watch-house has two or three folding beds, with a
mosquito net hanging over each of them. "I
set my alarm at 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. because we need to check every three
hours," said Hu, who often carries a flashlight at night and takes notes
while patrolling. "I am mostly
scared of snakes during the patrol. During floods, snakes leave the
water and hide in the grass along the bank. Sometimes we would kill a
dozen snakes a day. That's why we need to carry a stick while
patrolling," said Gao Pan, a 20-year-old college student from Susong
County of Anhui. Gao joined the patrol team during the summer holiday to render his efforts in protecting his hometown. A
total of 35 rivers and lakes in Anhui, including the Yangtze River and
Huaihe River, had seen water exceed warning levels as of July 18. The
provincial government activated the highest-level emergency response for
flood control. Since July 2,
continuous heavy rains have battered 80 counties across the province,
according to the provincial office of emergency management. As of July
19, nearly 4 million residents had been affected and 664,000 were
relocated. Statistics showed that
more than 480,000 hectares of crops across Anhui were damaged, resulting
in economic losses of 15.27 billion yuan (about 2.18 billion U.S.
dollars). In order to protect
people's lives and property, there are currently more than 187,000
people patrolling along rivers or engaged in fighting floods across the
province. Statistics from China's
emergency management authorities showed that over 2,500 flood-related
risks have befallen by July 18 in the five provinces in the middle and
lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including over 100 dike-related
hazards. However, all risks have been effectively handled. Enditem
|