The family seeker climbed a cliff with bare hands and returned to the village, but lost their loved ones and passed away. Rescue efforts were difficult to reach the village of Laishui: 4 days after the mudslide, Tangjiazhuang Village, Zhaogezhuang Town, Laishui County, Hebei Province | Gao Yan | Family members
Until August 5th, there was still no latest news about Gao Yan's family in his hometown. Gao Yan's hometown is located in Xita Village, Tangjiazhuang Village, Zhaogezhuang Town, Laishui County, Hebei Province.
Affected by Typhoon Du Suri, from July 29th to August 1st, Laishui County experienced heavy rainfall. Affected by rainfall in surrounding counties and cities, the water level of rivers such as Juma River in Laishui County suddenly rose.
On July 31st, the Baoding Meteorological Bureau, Baoding Emergency Management Bureau, and Baoding Water Resources Bureau jointly issued a meteorological risk warning for floods in small and medium-sized rivers. According to the warning, most areas in Laishui County belong to high-risk areas.
After the rainstorm, the flood and debris flow hit the village at the same time, and the road was washed away. The water and electricity were cut off and the network and materials were cut off. Some villagers took risks to escape from the village, bringing out the news of the village. At the same time, some relatives returned to the village by climbing the cliff with their bare hands, trying to rescue their relatives.
As of 19:00 on August 4th, a total of 97 villages in Laishui County have been severely affected by the disaster, distributed in five townships including Jiulong Town, Sanpo Town, Zhaogezhuang Town, Longmen Township, and Zhongzhongkou Township.
On the morning of August 4th, the Xuzhou Blue Sky Rescue Team, which was originally rescuing in Zhuozhou, received a request from the Laishui County Government to transport a batch of drugs and one medical staff to the severely affected area in the deep mountains, located in Tangjiazhuang Village, Zhaogezhuang Town, in the Yesanpo mountain depression.
At 12 noon, a rescue team of 21 people set off from Pengtou Village, which is closest to Tangjiazhuang, and trekked towards Tangjiazhuang Village.
On the noon of August 4th, a rescue team of 21 people walked to Tangjiazhuang Village for rescue. Photo provided by Xuzhou Blue Sky Rescue Team
The road is cut off, making it difficult for rescue forces to penetrate
On August 4th, in Laishui County, Ding Yuansong, the head of a rescue team, told Shangguan News that the main difficulty faced by the rescue team was that three rivers were blocking the rescue team's vehicles near Tangjiazhuang Village. On August 3rd, rescue team members crossed the first river by pulling ropes, but the second and third rivers have not yet been crossed.
"The third river has too much water volume, more than 20 meters wide and four or five meters deep, and it cannot be crossed." Rescue workers told Shangguan News reporters that the Zhouqiao troops and some construction units are currently working hard to build the bridge and open up this life transportation channel.
According to the news from the villagers of Tangjiazhuang who had traveled steep mountain roads for over 5 hours from the village two days ago to escape, "The village has been hit by mudslides, many houses have been flattened, and many people are missing or injured."
At first, Kang Shuai's Xuzhou Blue Sky Rescue Team planned to wade through the water along the ropes set up by the fire and armed police teams on two waterways that had already entered. However, they found that these facilities had been damaged, so they had to adopt a second plan - to re set up ropes from the edge of the cliff and slowly push forward against the cliff.
"Many narrow places, with a width of only a dozen centimeters, below are cliffs and cliffs," Kang Shuai recalled. The nurse who accompanied the team up the mountain to treat the villagers had no climbing experience and needed two rescue team members to escort them up the mountain.
Pengtou Village is 7 kilometers away from Tangjiazhuang Village. It was originally only a 10 minute drive, but the rescue team took 3 hours to enter the village.
The mud and water marks on the walls of the houses in Tangjiazhuang Village record the water level during the flood. Photo provided by Xuzhou Blue Sky Rescue Team
96 hours later, there was finally news about the family
The last time Gao Yan contacted his relatives in Xita Village was on July 30th. On the phone, her family told her that the rain at home was particularly heavy. Gao Yan said that according to the memories of the elderly in the village, the last time there was a flood in the village was in 1963, when Gao Yan was not yet born.
On July 31st, Xita Village experienced flooding and was immediately cut off from the power grid. Gao Yan also lost contact with his family. Whenever she has free time, she picks up her phone to call her relatives, but so far, there has been no message.
Also on the morning of July 31st, Wei Hang had a phone call with his mother in his hometown of Tangjiazhuang. On the phone, his mother told him that the river in front of his house had risen due to rain, and Wei Hang reminded his mother to pay attention to safety.
In the afternoon, Wei Hang contacted his family again and found that none of their phones could connect. At the same time, he learned of the news of the flood.
The next morning, Wei Hang, who was still unable to contact his family, called 110 in Laishui County for help. "Comrade 110 told me that he was ready to send people into the mountain for rescue."
On August 2nd, Gao Yan and Wei Hang both received news from the village doctor of Xita Village in Tangjiazhuang Village. "He climbed to the mountaintop, found intermittent signals, and sent news to the outside world that half of the village had been washed away," said Wei Hang.
Gao Yan finally saw the current situation of his hometown in the video: the village after the disaster was completely unrecognizable, many houses were washed away by mudslides, and almost all the visible land in the village was covered with stones and mud. In Xita Village, the villagers mainly rely on farming as their economic source, with young people mostly going out to work, while the majority of those left behind in the village are elderly people.
Upon hearing the news, at 18:00 on the 2nd, Wei Hang's brother Wei Qiang decided to rush back from Laishui County overnight. The car drove to Pengtou Village, but the road was already blocked. Wei Qiang and several other fellow villagers decided to bring a rope and climb over the mountain to rescue their loved ones.
After climbing the mountain for 5 hours, Wei Qiang finally returned to the village and learned that his parents had already hid high before the flood came. The news of his brother's safety finally eased Wei Hang's nerves, which had been tense for a few days. Tears couldn't help but fall, "Communication has been interrupted, and these days have been like years."
"There is no water or electricity, no supplies, and the villagers have not been relocated until now," Wei Hang wrote on social media at noon on August 4th.
Upon learning that the journalist from Shangguan News was visiting the scene, Wei Hang requested that the journalist make a voice call to him after arriving at the village, "Let my mother talk to me."
The houses in Tangjiazhuang Village were destroyed by floods. Photo provided by Xuzhou Blue Sky Rescue Team
Destroyed houses and villagers who risk escaping
At around 15:00 on August 4th, Kang Shuai finally arrived at the village and saw the village that had been invaded by floods and mudslides. The houses in the upstream of the river were severely damaged, while the houses in the middle and main villages were mostly preserved. Only the houses near the river were damaged, and the downstream was flat land filled with sand and gravel. According to the description of the villagers, this was originally a natural village.
Tangjiazhuang Village, located in the low-lying area of the mountain valley, originally had 7 natural villages, including Xita Village. The village faces the Juma River and is adjacent to a high mountain. "The damage to the village buildings was too severe, and at that time I couldn't even see the original form of the village," Kang Shuai said.
As soon as the Blue Sky Rescue Team entered the village, young and strong villagers began to escape by following the ropes left by the rescue team on the cliff. "A total of more than ten people walked out, and we advised them not to go out at that time. There was a high possibility of encountering danger while climbing the cliff, but they didn't listen."
Many trees by the river have been washed down by the flood. Photo provided by Xuzhou Blue Sky Rescue Team
On a vacant land upstream of the river, Kang Shuai saw a middle-aged man squatting and burning paper. He calmly and slowly told the people who were close to him that he had rushed back from outside. When the mudslide came, his parents, loved ones, and children were all in the village, and now everyone is gone.
Some people who rushed back from outside the mountain are also searching for their lost loved ones. "Have you seen my child?" "Have you seen my parents?" The mountain village is a society of acquaintances, and neighbors are familiar with the composition of each family. But this time when searching for relatives, most people received a negative answer.
At the request of the village cadres, after handing over the medicine, the Blue Sky Rescue Team searched for trapped people in the severely damaged ruins of houses in the village again, but to no avail. "Based on past rescue experience, we also know that there is little possibility of trapped individuals remaining at present. Those who can escape have also escaped after the water receded, and those who cannot escape will also be swept away by flash floods..."
In the middle reaches of the main village of Tangjiazhuang, where the buildings are relatively intact, more than ten survivors of the house being washed away gathered at the village's primary school, which has mineral water and dry food supply. Most of the disaster victims are still stationed in their homes that have not been washed away by the flood, constantly cleaning up the mud and tidying up the mess in their homes.
The living order in the village gradually recovered after intense pains. Several small shops in the village resumed operations after cleaning up the mud. A small bulldozer in the village has been working to open the village road, and by the time the rescue team left at night, the road had been basically cleared.
Until the evening of August 4th, there was still no water or internet connection in the village, but to Kang Shuai's surprise, some parts of the village were electrified. He speculated that these generators should be provided by the village committee or villagers themselves, "indicating that the power system here is not very stable even in extreme weather."
"I heard from the villagers that many people in this village went missing after the mudslide. What we can do now is to help the villagers who are still trapped inside live better." On the early morning of August 5th, Kang Shuai, who had safely returned to Zhuozhou, said that he was ready to return to Zhaogezhuang for rescue at any time.
