"The Great Granary of China" Joins Hands Together to Protect the City - A Report on the Frontline of Flood Control from Heilongjiang | Heilongjiang
Author: Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Liu Wei, Guan Jiantao, Qiang Yong
In recent days, due to the impact of typhoons "Dussuri" and "Kanu", Heilongjiang Province, the "Great Granary of China", has suffered a rare flood disaster in history.
The Party committees and governments at all levels in Heilongjiang Province have taken swift action, firmly putting the safety of people's lives and property first, fully mobilizing all forces, fully carrying out emergency rescue, properly resettling the affected people, minimizing casualties and losses from floods, and resolutely winning the "encounter battle" and "proactive battle" of flood prevention and relief.
On the black soil, a resounding "anti flood battle song" of putting people first and life first resounds.
On August 4th, firefighters from the Special Service Brigade of Harbin Forest Fire Brigade transferred trapped residents to a safe area in Wanshan Village, Yishanpo Town, Shangzhi City. Shen Jizhong
Unite to Protect Anlan
Since the beginning of the flood season, heavy rainfall has hit Heilongjiang Province, causing a sudden increase in flood control pressure in the Songhua River, Mudan River and other river basins. Multiple rivers have formed the first flood of the year, and the black soil is facing a test in guarding the "granary of China".
The Party committees and governments at all levels in Heilongjiang Province are committed to ensuring the safety of people's lives and property around the goal of "no casualties, no collapse of reservoirs, no breach of important embankments, and no impact on important infrastructure".
Faced with the severe flood situation, on August 4th, Heilongjiang Province upgraded the provincial-level emergency response for flood prevention, flood and drought disaster prevention, and geological disasters to level two, and established three departments including the Military Civilian Joint Staff Department to comprehensively strengthen command and coordination, and dispatched a total of 25 working groups to guide flood prevention and rescue.
On the 8th, a drone flew over the flood control and rescue site in Yichang Village, Wanlong Township, Shuangcheng District, Harbin City. From the footage captured by the drone, it can be seen that a newly built protective belt about two kilometers long is like a "white Great Wall", tenaciously resisting the impact of floods.
Fill sandbags, shoulder them, and move forward quickly... More than 800 officers and soldiers from a certain brigade of the 78th Army Group are fighting on the front line of flood control. "The flood situation is a command, and we are racing against time to build the dam before the flood peak arrives," said Sheng Hongtao, the commander of the brigade.
A video of Wuchang villagers saving lives has been widely circulated on social media. On the 4th, villager Zhao Yongli drove an excavator to reinforce the dam and accidentally fell into the water. At a critical moment, villager Dong Mingliang jumped into the flood with a rubber ring and went for rescue. After seven or eight minutes of rescue, the two of them safely landed.
Dong Mingliang admitted that he was also afraid at the time, but he had to save others. "Everyone can be saved, taking off clothes takes up time, and every second is precious.".
Those ordinary heroes who stood up in danger built unbreakable "steel dams" in the rolling tide.
Where there is danger, there are party members; Where there is hardship, there is a party flag fluttering.
Since early August, Hailin City has been affected by sustained heavy rainfall, and the Hailang River has exceeded the warning water level.
"The flood has destroyed our home, but it cannot undermine our confidence. People are here, hope is there." When the reporter arrived at Gucheng Village in Changting Town, Hailin City, the village party branch secretary Yu Xinzheng led party members and villagers to reinforce the dam.
During the interview, Yu Xin's phone kept ringing non-stop. "The last flood damaged the dam in the village. We need to repair it as soon as possible to resist the next flood attack." Yu Xin said, "A stronger dam provides more protection for the safety of the villagers' lives and property.".
Not just ancient city villages. In the face of the disaster, grassroots party branches in various regions have fully played the role of fighting fortresses.
At critical moments such as evacuating and transferring the masses, seizing bridges and roads, and transporting disaster relief materials, Party members stand up and rush forward, becoming the "backbone" and vanguard of flood prevention and disaster relief.
"This is our home, we must guard it, and as party members, we must set a good example." Zhang Liwei, the secretary of the party branch of Yizengcheng Village in Wanlong Township, had already hoarse voice on the dam hit by the flood. "More than 80 party members and villagers volunteered to participate in flood prevention and disaster relief, some driving their own tractors to transport sand, some patrolling the embankment, some cooking and delivering food."
Sun Qingbo, the secretary of the Party branch of Wanshan Village in Yishanpo Town, Shangzhi City, saved 5 people in a row three times during the flood, and was called "Desperate San Lang" by the villagers. "The villagers are all watching me, no matter how dangerous it is, I have to go," said Sun Qingbo. Many villagers are unaware that Sun Qingbo has been hospitalized three times due to a cerebral infarction, with the most recent being in December 2022 and receiving treatment for nearly five months.
On August 4th, the relocated residents took a bus to the resettlement site of Yachen Middle School in Wuchang City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Haodong
200000 people's large-scale relocation
On the 4th, there was drizzling rain in the air, and the reporter arrived near the Mudanjiang Highway Bridge section of Tieling River in Mudanjiang City. Floods could be seen from a distance, and the village road had already been cordoned off.
"I haven't slept a full night for several days," said Yu Yangyang, a firefighter from the Mudanjiang Fire Brigade. In recent days, the crowd has been being evacuated, and some places are inaccessible by vehicles, especially for elderly and disabled people who have difficulty moving. Everyone has waded into the water and walked there, and multiple firefighters have used relay carrying to rescue trapped people.
"I heard the village loudspeaker announcing the evacuation, and a bus came to pick me up. I packed up and quickly came out." At the resettlement site of Yachen Middle School in Wuchang City, Chen Shifan, a villager from Xinxing Village in Wuchang Town, said. At the beginning, he was quite anxious. On the morning of the 4th, when he arrived at the resettlement site, he saw familiar villagers and busy staff, and his heart slowly calmed down.
"Don't worry, slow down. We have accommodation and food here." People from Lexiang, a resident of Wuchang, gradually got off the bus, with staff waiting in front of the bus.
On the first floor lobby of the resettlement site, two staff members kept asking "name, phone number, and which village they came from." In no time, everyone's rooms were allocated.
The reporter noticed that the resettlement site has a transfer resettlement group, material support group, health management group, psychological counseling group, medical treatment group, and logistics support group.
Cui Xing, Deputy Director of the Emergency Management Bureau of Wuchang City, introduced that Wuchang City has prepared more than 1200 rooms in 23 hotels, more than 10000 beds in 27 schools as backup, and has reserved living and medical supplies.
Recalling the flood flooding into the room, Fang Xiuyun, a resident of Fendou Street in Yanshou Town, Yanshou County, Harbin City, still had lingering palpitations. On the evening of the 4th, the water level in the Yanshou section of the Ant River continued to rise, and her old bungalow, which she had lived in for more than 40 years, was flooded. With the help of rescue personnel, she traveled to the resettlement site of the Yanshou County Comprehensive Social Welfare Center.
"In times of crisis, knocking on the door one more time increases the safety of the people." Xu Difei, the county mayor of Yanshou County, said that the county organized 1147 rural cadres, as well as elite forces from housing and water departments, to carry out a "knocking action" and conduct a comprehensive investigation of the water inflow areas in the urban area. 14605 households were knocked on, and all 3385 people at risk in the urban area were promptly transferred and properly resettled. At the same time, organize rural cadres at both levels to conduct village by village and household inspections for other high-risk villages. As of August 12th, a total of 9368 people have been urgently relocated and resettled in the county, of which 1717 are concentrated and 7651 are scattered.
On the noon of the 10th, a drizzle began to fall in Changting Town, Hailin City, and villagers were gradually resettled in a local school. The reporter saw several beds placed in each classroom, with clean and tidy bedding on top, and daily necessities such as mineral water and convenient food neatly arranged on both sides of the corridor.
"Mayor, just let me go home and feed the chickens, ducks, and geese." Changting Town Mayor Wu Lei told reporters that when we first arrived at the resettlement site, there were always villagers who couldn't rest assured at home. In order to better appease the villagers, a temporary team was formed in the town to help them go home and feed poultry and livestock.
Zhou Zhenbo, a resident of Changting Town, said, "Everything is fine at the resettlement site. It's like a big family here, and the thoughtful arrangements in the town make us feel very warm."
While talking, Zhou Zhenbo showed the reporters their lunch - Braised pork belly in brown sauce, scrambled eggs with cucumber, scrambled onions and rice in the lunch box were still hot. "Three meals a day are guaranteed, just wait for the water to return home," Zhou Zhenbo said.
According to statistics, as of 12:00 on the 12th, Heilongjiang Province has urgently relocated and resettled 206515 people.
On August 11th, staff from the Agricultural Technology Extension Center in Shangzhi City, Heilongjiang Province, inspected the condition of rice in a flooded rice field. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Tao
Agricultural restoration in progress
Make door-to-door phone calls to guide farmers in carrying out crop self rescue; In the rice fields washed away by floods, large machinery should be deployed to quickly drain the water; Organizing drone pilots to spray foliar fertilizer in the fields... In recent days, Yin Xiaoyu, the Party branch secretary of Pingyuan Village in Huifa Town, Fangzheng County, Harbin City, has been particularly busy. He is leading the villagers to work hard to promote more rice flowering and grouting, while avoiding the occurrence of rice blast.
According to statistics, Fangzheng County has 1.108 million mu of arable land, with the affected area reaching 160000 mu. As the flood gradually subsides, disinfection of animal husbandry, disaster reduction and disease prevention of crops, and other work are being carried out in an orderly manner.
Zheng Wei, Secretary of the Fangzheng County Party Committee, said that food security is closely related to the national economy and people's livelihood. Faced with adverse weather conditions, the whole county is seizing agricultural time and managing the fields, mobilizing agricultural technology experts, township cadres, and grain growers from various sources to bridge the "last mile" of agricultural disaster prevention and reduction work, striving to minimize agricultural disaster losses and contribute to "securing China's rice bowl".
In response to 9 key cities such as Wuchang and Shangzhi that experienced flood disasters, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Heilongjiang Province quickly organized and dispatched 11 guidance groups and 9 key work groups to conduct one-on-one investigations and guide agricultural disaster prevention, reduction, and relief work.
Starting from the 6th, the agricultural department of Shangzhi City dispatched multiple batches of agricultural technology service teams to various towns and villages to provide disaster prevention technical guidance. Wei Jinsheng, Deputy Director of the Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Shangzhi City, told reporters that due to the varying degrees of disaster in different regions, rescue efforts should be carried out in different regions, varieties, and plots, and precise guidance should be provided.
In Sheng'an Village, Yimianpo Town, Shangzhi City, rice fields are covered in mud and rice leaves are lying on the ground. Zhang Jian, director of the Agricultural Technology Promotion Center in Shangzhi City, walked into the rice field and bent down to inspect the disaster situation of the rice. "Now we need to guide farmers to adopt measures such as spraying quick acting fertilizers and preventing diseases, in order to save flooded crops as much as possible," he said to the technical personnel around him.
In recent days, Wuchang City has actively carried out disaster reduction and self rescue, as well as agricultural production recovery. The agricultural department has established a post disaster technical guidance group to go deep into townships and villages, guiding farmers to carry out disaster prevention and reduction work from aspects such as rushing to drain field water, spraying foliar fertilizer, removing alluvial deposits, scientifically preventing and controlling pests and diseases, and strengthening field management.
According to local agricultural experts, rice soaked in floods is commonly known as "over water". Flooding disasters can lead to reduced rice production, but it does not mean crop failure. The final yield will be determined after the autumn harvest.
"The flooded land this year is mainly concentrated along several major rivers, and the affected areas are part of it. Large areas of rice are still growing normally," said Li Yanjun, the director of the Plant Protection Station of Wuchang Agricultural Technology Promotion Center. According to her introduction, "over water" can be roughly divided into three types: some are severely affected by disasters, soak for a long time, and may go out of production; Some rice leaves and ears are soaked in floods, causing sediment to settle and affecting pollination; Some waters have a shorter soaking time, which has a smaller impact on yield.
"We promptly contacted the village coordinators and farmers to understand the relevant situation, introduced the basic information of the survey and the agricultural insurance claim process to the farmers," said Zhang Qiang, the agricultural insurance customer manager of China Ping An Property Insurance Co., Ltd. Wuchang Branch.
At present, the province has deployed 706 emergency operation service teams for agricultural machinery, with more than 120000 personnel, 22000 sets of machinery, and 4419 water pumps. The total area of accumulated water in farmland has been drained to 2.293 million acres.
Jiang Yiquan, Chief Agronomist of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Heilongjiang Province, stated that the province will further organize non disaster areas to strengthen field management in the middle and later stages, maximize the potential for yield improvement, and strive to achieve increased production in non disaster areas, stable production in light disaster areas, and reduced production in heavy disaster areas.
A helicopter was used to hoist a 110 kV sea long line iron tower in Mengjia Village, Hailin Town, Hailin City.
Work together to protect our home
On the 5th, after days and nights of hard work and full efforts to repair, the bridge deck at K253 in the direction of Harbin from Mudanjiang to Mudanjiang on the Harbin Mudanjiang Expressway, which was damaged by the flood of the Ant River, was completed. Other water crossing sections were also repaired, and the entire line of the Harbin Mudanjiang Expressway was restored to traffic.
As of now, the Department of Transportation of Heilongjiang Province has formed 46 working groups to conduct comprehensive inspections along highways, national and provincial roads, rural roads, as well as waterways, ports, docks, etc. in the province, repairing damaged parts in a timely manner to ensure production and daily needs.
After the disaster, State Grid Heilongjiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. dispatched multiple personnel to continuously repair the power grid facilities throughout the province, safeguarding the "brightness" of the people.
On the 9th, at the repair site of the 110 kV Changhai transmission line in Hailin City, a helicopter lifted a heavy transmission tower and transported it to a designated location. This transmission tower is located on the central island of the river and cannot use conventional lifting equipment. State Grid Corporation of China quickly dispatched helicopters from State Grid Liaoning Electric Power and State Grid Space Technology Company to support Heilongjiang, solving problems such as lifting and transportation of transmission towers.
Party committees and governments at all levels prioritize the interests of the people, actively carry out post disaster reconstruction, fully restore water, power, communication, and transportation in disaster stricken areas, strengthen risk and hidden danger investigation and disposal, and provide service guarantees for the restoration of production and living order in disaster stricken areas.
The Finance Department of Heilongjiang Province has arranged special funds to focus on the relocation and resettlement of disaster victims, the repair of damaged houses, and the investigation of secondary disaster hazards. It supports 36 counties and hydrological and water resource centers in six cities, including Harbin, Qiqihar, Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, Jixi, and Yichun, in carrying out water conservancy engineering facilities and flood damage repair.
After the flood receded, in order to prevent the occurrence of epidemic diseases, silt removal, disinfection and sterilization, sanitation and other work around are also being followed up at the same time.
On August 11th, near Shangzhi Street in Shangzhi City, Heilongjiang Province, sanitation workers were cleaning up mud. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Tao
The forklift scooped up a large amount of mud on the road and poured it into the dumper. Some workers cleaned the sidewalk with shovel, and some washed the road with water guns... On the afternoon of September 9, on the road near a park in Dongpu New District, Shangzhi City, the dredging work after the flood receded was in progress.
"The terrain here is low and the water falls slowly. The deepest part of the area can reach a thickness of 50 centimeters of silt, which can be said to be the most difficult to clean. We have dispatched 7 forklifts and more than 200 workers to carry out the work." Liang Chao, Deputy Director of the Urban Management Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau of Shangzhi City, said that they are currently carrying out stubble pressing operations. As soon as the water is discharged, the exposed part will immediately start to be cleared of silt.
As of 12:00 on the 11th, 11 municipal level insurance leaders in Harbin have been stationed in 12 counties to supervise insurance operations, conducting comprehensive statistics on the affected population, enterprises, houses, roads, bridges and culverts, water conservancy projects, crops, and other aspects to determine the bottom line of the disaster.
When the flood comes, local cadres and groups take the flood as their command and move upon hearing it, working together to fight against rare floods; The flood is gradually receding, and all sectors of society are working together to restore production, striving to win the "encounter battle" and "proactive battle" of flood prevention and disaster relief.
