When floods flood empty nesters, parents and elderly people in suburban communities of Beijing
"The water here is all over the wheels of the car, you need to park the car in a high position!"
On the morning of July 31st, Fang Xing received a voice message from his father shouting loudly on his WeChat account. My 76 year old father was almost deaf due to a stroke 11 years ago and has been living with his spouse in Fangshan District for retirement. In the voice background, there was a crackling sound of rain, and Fang Xing knew it was the sound of raindrops hitting the ceiling of his small courtyard.
In this old man's world, this rain is not a big deal. He actually cares more about his daughter's car.
But he did not know that Fangshan District, where he is located, has become the core disaster area of heavy rainfall in Beijing - according to the Beijing Meteorological Observatory, since July 29, the city has suffered the first continuous heavy rainstorm in 140 years. On the whole day of July 31, the average rainfall in Fangshan District and Mentougou District of Beijing exceeded 400mm, far higher than the magnitude of the "July 21" rainstorm in Beijing in 2012. Communication signals were interrupted in 62 villages in 7 townships, including Fangshan District. At the same time, the main water supply pipeline in Fangshan District was washed away, resulting in a large-scale water outage in the area. The rainstorm not only impacted the roads and signal towers, but also destroyed the fragile connection between empty nesters and urban children in many mountainous and suburban areas.
In the afternoon of July 31, private rescue forces spontaneously established a Tencent shared document of "Statistical Summary of rainstorm Rainstorm Help Information" on the Internet. At around 2pm on August 1st, when Fang Xing was feeling helpless, he also registered his parents' information: "Two 76 year old people with mobility difficulties and a 57 year old nanny were trapped at home, with no water, no electricity, no gas, and their phones were about to lose contact..."
As of 6:30 pm on August 2nd, this form has expanded the scope of assistance to multiple cities in the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region, with a total of 1028 pieces of information. Among these help seeking messages, more than 400 mention "the elderly are trapped", and notes often include explanations such as "living alone" and "underlying illnesses.".
During the waiting time, Fang Xing felt like he had also experienced a surging flood in his heart - the problem of raising and caring for his parents, which had accumulated for more than 10 years, erupted in extreme moments of no water, no electricity, and no internet.
On July 31st, floods flooded into the community. Respondents provide pictures
Silent "help signal"
On the day he received his father's WeChat voice message, 45 year old Fang Xing had the urge to immediately return to his parents' house. His father is half paralyzed, and his mother is suffering from Alzheimer's disease with diabetes and ketonuria, so he can only entrust a housekeeper to take care of her. She went home two months ago last time.
"When will you be back? You came back to take care of me, so I can go back to my home in Zhuozhou and take a look." Aunt Gu, the nanny, asked on the phone as usual, but this time her tone added a bit of helplessness. At this time, the rainstorm in Fangshan had lasted for two days.
The road back to Fang Xing's parents' house is not far, from Chaoyang East Fifth Ring Road to Fangshan Liuli River, which is over 70 kilometers and more than an hour's drive. But now she was trapped by the powerful rainstorm.
On the second day of the rainstorm, she drove off and just got on the Beijing Hong Kong Macao Expressway when she met a roadblock. Along the way, she kept seeing people turning back. In the nearby stagnant water, she could see scattered small cars soaked, and could only return.
Fang Xing began to feel fear. She reminded her parents to turn off their phones, reduce power consumption, and prevent disconnection. The stay at home nanny became the emergency contact person for the two elderly people.
Fang Xing's parents live on the first floor of Building 33 near the west gate of Binshui Yayuan Community. The west gate has a lower terrain compared to the east gate. After the flood overflowed from the west gate, the water level gradually rose to the base of the person's thigh.
When the water was at its deepest, the furniture in Fang Xing's parents' yard floated up. Respondents provide pictures
On July 31st, Fang Xing began to continuously call the property management, village committee, town government, and emergency rescue department of his parents' residential area. She received a response: all rescue teams have been dispatched and are currently in the frontline of emergency operations, reaching Liulihe Town.
But within the community, no rescue team was seen. Fang Xing speculates that the rescue priority may not be high on the parents' side, as there is also a situation where the entire village is flooded near the community.
On the afternoon of August 1st, Aunt Gu's phone was running out of battery. The tricky thing is that due to the damage of communication base stations in heavy rain, there is almost no mobile phone signal at home. In the afternoon of that day, Aunt Gu rushed to the neighbor's house with better signal in the neighboring building and asked the neighbor to tell Fang Xing, "There is still one step left for water to overflow into the house." This was the only time in the two and a half days of power and water outage in the community that Aunt Gu contacted Fang Xing.
Later on, Fang Xing could no longer reach Aunt Gu's phone. In a moment of urgency, the flashing emergency light by her father's bedside flashed through her mind. "Since my dad had a cerebral thrombosis, he can't stay in a completely dark environment. I don't know how long this light can last after a power outage..."
Before losing contact with her parents living in Mentougou, Fu Lei's last call was at 10:30 am on July 31st.
On the phone, her parents told her that the water in the village was very high and the road out of the village was flooded. Some villagers want to evacuate to a higher altitude on the mountain, but the mountain is constantly being flooded, and if they can't walk well, they face the risk of being washed away. The village does not allow villagers to evacuate without permission.
"I regret this decision." Looking back later, Fu Lei said that her parents could have avoided this dangerous situation.
Although Fu Lei's parents are also empty nest elderly, contrary to most families, they usually live in the city of Beijing, while Fu Lei is a freelancer who does not work and lives in the shallow mountain area of Mentougou District.
At the end of July, Fu Lei went out of Beijing, but she didn't trust her pets at home, so she asked her parents to help take care of the house in the mountains. I didn't expect to encounter rainstorm.
After losing contact with her parents, Fu Lei sent messages to the village neighbors one by one, but there was no response.
She called the emergency office of Mentougou District and learned that each town had made satellite calls to the district, reporting the safety of personnel, but did not disclose the progress of rescue efforts. Fu Lei is very nervous. In the village inside Mentougou Mountain, the residents live scattered and may only be able to save themselves
She never stopped searching for information online, such as Xiaohongshu, WeChat, Weibo... but no one knew the exact information about Wangping Town and Dongma Gezhuang Village.
In Fang Xing's home, in the flooded courtyard, outdoor coffee tables and sofas float on the water. In the fence, the roses carefully planted by his mother before falling ill only show their buds, becoming aquatic plants.
More than two-thirds of the residents in the community are elderly people over 60 years old. The information that nanny Gu can gather is limited.
In the afternoon of August 1st, she saw scattered people outside the window trekking in the flood with buckets. She immediately inquired and found out that a water truck had arrived at the east entrance of the community, offering free water.
The two elderly people at home haven't wiped their bodies for several days. "Fang Xing's mother is running out of water to boil the herbs that control her blood sugar." She decided to wade out and fetch water, putting a large black garbage bag over her head to prevent rain, and leaning on a long wooden stick found in the yard at home.
"I'm only a little over 1.5 meters tall, and the water on the road is already up to my waist." After filling the bucket with water, Aunt Gu found that the bucket could float in the flood. She just needed to push the bucket and walk. This is the only story she had with a smile on her face when talking about this flood.
On that day, Aunt Gu spent nearly two hours exploring the road four to five hundred meters from the entrance of the community. But even after pouring water, she still didn't dare to wash the mountains of dirty dishes piled up in the kitchen.
The kitchen of Fang Xing's parents' house has accumulated several days of dishes that were not washed due to a lack of domestic water. Photo by Yang Shuyuan
What to eat became a problem in those days, with no electricity or gas, hot food became a luxury. It's even more difficult for Fang Xing, the mother of diabetes, to have meals: there are only three Mantou left as the staple food at home, but they are not suitable for diabetes patients. Every meal Aunt Gu broke off half of the Mantou, took out some raw celery and a plate of soy sauce, and let Fang Xing's mother dip it. "Celery can slow her blood sugar.".
Aunt Gu doesn't dare to eat too much herself, so she eats some snacks every day to satisfy her hunger. "Her nerves were highly tense and she didn't feel hungry." In the days when she lost contact with the outside world, she seemed to have lost her sense of time and felt very dazed every day.
An elderly person is wading in the community. Respondents provide pictures
Courtyard in rainstorm
On the noon of August 1st, Fang Xing unexpectedly received a phone call from his mother, whose voice was a bit drowsy.
"Mom, why are you using Aunt Gu's phone? Are you all okay?" Fang Xing was a bit surprised. Because the communication network was too poor all day, Aunt Gu found it difficult to dial Fang Xing's phone.
"This is my phone, I'm pretty good..." My mother said slowly.
Fang Xing was somewhat surprised by his mother's phone call. After my mother was diagnosed with early-stage dementia, she was sometimes confused and sometimes clear. She didn't remember to charge her phone, and it was usually turned off. "Perhaps there are always one or two people deep down in her heart that she misses," sighed Fang Xing.
This phone became the secret of the mother and daughter during the flood. Even Aunt Gu doesn't know when Fang Xing's mother left her sight and how she dialed the phone.
Fang Xing's father and mother are in a home with a lot of clutter and express delivery. Photo by Yang Shuyuan
"I deeply regret it!" Fang Xing's voice suddenly increased when he talked about the decision to relocate his parents more than a decade ago. "I should have forced them to move in together at that time."
She has repeatedly suggested that her parents move to an elevator room in the city and live with her for a period of time, but her parents have refused. The reason is that my father now has to walk with a support frame, and his balance is poor. If he is lightly touched in a crowded area, he may fall to the ground, so he refuses to take the crowded elevator in a high-rise apartment building. In addition, my father is a person who pays attention to details. He is worried that he may feel embarrassed to live with his daughter and want to stay naked at home during the hot summer.
Fang Xing didn't insist any further. "Sometimes, thinking about living together, my mother would give me some advice on my life. My father, due to his poor hearing, has to turn the TV on very loudly every day. It seems that living separately is also the most peaceful arrangement."
The first floor house in Fangshan, which has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a small courtyard, was bought by my father over a decade ago without telling my family before his stroke. Previously, the elderly couple lived on the 6th floor of a residential area in Tiantongyuan, but after retirement, it became increasingly difficult to climb upstairs. After my father fell ill, my mother only discovered the purchase voucher for this house while helping him pack up. At that time, my father was already unable to move, so the family decided to renovate it temporarily. Afterwards, the two parents moved in.
At that time, everything was quite satisfactory. The living room walls were painted a light pink by my naturally romantic father. The family was organized by their mother. She has just retired and is particularly fond of going out. Even if her father is sick, she often takes him on vacation to Hainan and Beidaihe.
But the romantic ideal of old age is gradually eroded by the trivialities and difficulties of the elderly living alone. The sharp decline in parents' lives began at the beginning of this year when their mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
In fact, there are already traces of his mother's illness - in the past one or two years, when he returned home, Fang Xing suddenly discovered that every corner of the house was filled with small mountain shaped express delivery boxes. Many boxes contain expired health products that my mother bought from TV shopping.
At its peak, there were daily couriers coming to our homes, and even the couriers called Fang Xing, saying, "Stop your mother quickly. How could you send money to a health product company like this every day?"
Once, the weather was cold and gloomy, and my mother suddenly ran out of the house and lay sleeping on an abandoned dirty sofa in the corner of the community. When awakened by her family, she smiled and said, "I think it's great to be able to bask in the sun here."
Looking back now, Fang Xing realized that these were all early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, but she had always understood them as her mother's stubborn and stubborn personality.
Last winter during the peak of the epidemic, Fang Xing reminded her parents not to go out, and her mother became very drowsy and weak. Without anyone to take care of her, she became addicted to snacks and had poor blood sugar control. At its worst, it takes several breaks from the room to the living room. Fang Xing realized that the situation was not good and took his mother online to consult with experts, confirming that it was Alzheimer's disease
One day after the rainstorm, the reporter visited two elderly people at the entrustment of Fang Xing, but Fang Xing's father acted as a salesman. He tried his best to support and walk up to his old companion, constantly interrupting his expression, afraid that his wife would fall for the scam of "health product scammers" again.
After the rain, there is a suffocating and damp smell in the home. Fang Xing's mother was unable to take a shower for several days due to a power outage and water outage. Her short hair was soaked in sweat and then oily, automatically forming small strands of hair; Father, due to not going out for years, has a bulky and bulky body, making it difficult to move.
Now both Fang Xing's parents are suffering from neurological disorders. His mother appears indifferent and sluggish, while his father is restless and vigilant. Couples communicate less and less, often sitting alone on the sofa or dining chair, immersed in their respective worlds.
Occasionally, the father would forcefully lift the mother lying on the sofa, thinking that "lying like this is not good for the body.". Communication has evolved into intense arguments.
Aunt Gu doesn't have a high level of education, but from the conversation between the elderly couple, it is known that this old couple is a college classmate. "When they were young, they were both very talented designers and built many famous buildings in the city of Beijing."
One of Aunt Gu's daily responsibilities now is to remind Fang Xing's mother not to fall asleep. "She must walk five to six hundred meters every day and cannot take a nap for too long, which can slow down cerebellar atrophy." She is familiar with the training content provided by the home service company.
Only in these days of rainstorm, the old man has been trapped at home, "the more he stays, the weaker he is, and the weaker he is". But Aunt Gu didn't tell Fang Xing about these things. "She's so far apart and can't come over, it's useless to say anything."
"Actually, I really want to go home and take a look. My home is in Zhuozhou, and I've also been flooded." In this home, she always forgets that she is also a 57 year old "quasi elderly person" who occasionally needs someone to take care of her life.
"Silver Hair" Flood Fighting Self rescue Team
A few days of difficulties have pushed the issue of supporting parents back to Fang Xing.
"You just realized that both my parents and myself are trapped on an isolated island in the city," said Fang Xing. The last time I experienced such despair was last winter, when the COVID-19 epidemic was at its peak. But no matter what, last time they were able to communicate remotely, and now all she can do is endless waiting.
On the two nights when the community was flooded and their parents lost contact, Fang Xing slept with his phone in his arms. She wakes up from time to time and is busy scrolling through new owner group messages.
Aunt Gu is not very literate, and Fang Xing is worried that she may miss important information.
After the water receded in the community, sandbags used for flood prevention can be seen everywhere. Photo by Yang Shuyuan
In the community, there are not many people she can entrust, and most of her acquaintances are empty nest elderly people with poor health. Fortunately, on the third floor of the same building, there is a passionate couple in their 60s who have also moved in from the city to take care of themselves. Before, when my mother was in good health, she often brought them vegetables and made plans to go sweating and steaming together. Aunt Gu said that when the hallway started to flood, Fang Xing contacted the couple as a safety net for their parents: once the water flooded their home, they would go up to the third floor to take refuge.
There is also an elderly couple in their 70s living on the diagonal 1st floor of their parents' house, and the male owner was a lawyer before retirement. Fang Xing asked him to come over in case of any unexpected situation at home. The old man promised, "If there's anything, even if it's wading, I'll go over and help you take a look."
Those who take close care of the elderly and those who can seek help are also the elderly. The weak help the even weaker, becoming a fragile and reliable survival chain in a flood island.
Soon, residents received news of the overflow of the Liuli River embankment, with water flowing backwards towards the lower north. The Binshui Yayuan community is one of the affected communities. On the afternoon of July 31st, the accumulated water in the building fell, but rose again at night.
On the morning of August 1st, one of the few young adults in the community spontaneously went to the west gate to collect flood control sandbags provided by the government. In the homeowner group, someone suggested that each low-level resident allocate one labor force to move sandbags to a designated location outside the community.
On August 1st, residents were transporting flood control supplies. Respondents provide pictures
In the first round of mobilization, only 8 people registered in the group. The organizers had to mobilize again.
For a long time, someone responded, "We are all elderly people with limited mobility at home. How can we get out of here?" Many people began to echo and speak out. The WeChat group then fell silent.
"Then young and elderly people should come out to help themselves." Sun Rui, a 69 year old resident in the community, was one of the people who stepped forward.
As water continued to flow from the west gate into the community, everyone built a four or five meter high sandbag wall at the west gate overnight, and even brought in a garbage truck to transport a load of debris and stones to barely block the flood. After the flood was blocked, everyone discussed how to drain the water.
"Most of the people who participated in the rescue were men in their fifties and sixties. In this community, these were considered good laborers. The organizers were actually aunties." Speaking of the experience of "flood control and rescue" that day, Sun Rui felt helpless and amused. His right calf was injured in this self rescue, and the wound that cannot be fully covered by the bandage is faintly visible. "Many people have deep cuts on their feet from the crushed glass rolled up in the water," said Sun Rui. The next morning, most of the accumulated water in the community was drained, leaving only deep and shallow silt.
On August 2nd, the accumulated water in the community has been drained, and the mud and sand bags surrounding the west gate have not been removed yet. Photo by Yang Shuyuan
In contrast, in mountain villages, empty nest elderly people have more limited space for self rescue.
On the afternoon of August 1st, Fu Lei discovered that information about missing individuals from nearby villages began to flow online. "Some relatively young and physically fit individuals walked out of the mountains on their own, taking out general information about our seven neighboring villages and bringing in rescue personnel."
From the afternoon of August 1st to several hours at night, Fu Lei received a large number of safety reports from the mountains. Many empty nest elderly people in the village voluntarily run to neighbors with stronger mobile phone signals to report safety to their children. They said that a rescue team has arrived in the village. Around 6 pm, Fu Lei finally received a reply from her neighbor - her family is safe.
At around 9am on August 2nd, Fu Lei, who had been lost to her family for nearly 48 hours, finally received a text message from her mother borrowing someone else's phone. The short sentence was: "We are all safe, the road is cut off, don't go back!"
At that time, there were still no reports of missing persons in some towns in the deep mountainous area of Mentougou. "The mountains in Mentougou are too deep, and more than 90% of the entire Mentougou area may be mountains. We are fine in shallow mountainous areas, and officers and soldiers can still get in by walking, but it is impossible to get in deep mountainous areas. The deeper the mountains, the more people there are left behind elderly people without the ability to save themselves..." Fu Lei said.
Fang Xing remembers that when his parents moved here, it was in the summer of 2012, which also coincided with the "July 21" extremely heavy rainstorm in Beijing that year. "The community was not flooded so seriously, and flood control sandbags were arranged around it. Later, there was no rainstorm in Beijing, and even when it rained, they were used to power cuts occasionally."
Fang Xing's parents only discovered it after moving in; Many of the neighbors in the community are retired couples from the urban area of Beijing. At that time, the elderly often discussed the topic of living with their children, and most people felt that "unless absolutely necessary, don't live together." Before retirement, most of them had a good economic situation and didn't want to rely on their children spiritually or materially. They valued this place, where "the housing price was only three to four thousand yuan, you could live in a house with a single courtyard on the first floor, there was a large supermarket nearby, and a wetland park.".
After more than a decade, the elderly who were still hale and capable when they moved in have aged. On the contrary, the community environment is getting worse and worse. "In the first few years, it was okay, but later it became increasingly difficult. Not to mention the environment and property services, this community is usually not managed by anyone," Sun Rui recalled.
The elderly and the community have aged together. After the flood receded, the entire waterfront garden became increasingly depressed, and the roads in the community were all covered in mud, damp and muddy, with black mud mixed with scattered household waste. The temperature rises during the day, and the sludge and dirty water on the road emit a foul smell of decay
After the flood receded, the community was filled with mud. Photo by Lei Ceyuan
After the flood recedes, will you leave or continue living alone?
"I don't know how long it will take to clean up the muddy water outside." Fang Xing's mother thought of leaving the community temporarily after the rainstorm subsided. She murmured to herself by the window, "The environment here is too bad, I've wanted to leave for a long time." At that moment, she seemed to have regained her shrewd and capable appearance from earlier years.
At this time, it was already around 2 pm on August 2nd, and the roads around the community had resumed traffic. The community has also been powered on, the tap water has not yet arrived, and the mobile phone signal is intermittent.
The owner of the express delivery station in the community also went back to the store to clean up. The first express delivery arrived after the rainstorm. The most common goods are boxes of drinking water that children send to the elderly remotely online.
After resuming logistics, the first batch of supplies received by the courier station were boxes of drinking water purchased online by children for the elderly at home. Photo by Yang Shuyuan
Fang Xing brought two large bags of takeout to the delivery man. My mother usually gets excited when she sees takeout. But that day, for some reason, my mother looked at these dishes and lost interest.
On this day, there are fewer and fewer elderly people in the community. News such as "whose elderly family was taken away by their children" is circulating among the elderly. At this point, only Fang Xing's parents are left as a resident in Building 33.
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