Gaopi's Battle Against Typhoon: Thrilling Five Days and Five Nights Water Situation | Water Bureau | Typhoon

On September 14th, the residual vortex effects of Typhoon "Haikui" were not completely eliminated, and weak cold air continued to hit Guangdong. According to statistics from the meteorological department, Guangdong has set a record for the strongest rainfall in September in history.

The strongest September rain is also the most severe test in history.

In the face of the storm, how can Guangdong stick to the camp and keep the clouds open?

A town's defense measures the overall situation.

Gaopi Town in Dapu, Meizhou, is a key flood control town in the province, where the Meijiang, Tingjiang, and Meitan Rivers converge to form the Han River in their upper reaches. Coupled with multiple factors such as low terrain and lack of protective embankments, Gaopi Town has always suffered from flood disasters.

"Sura" and "Sea Anemone" came one after another. The two typhoons brought long-lasting rainstorm, which made Hanjiang usher in the biggest flood peak this year, and also made Gaopi Town in danger of being submerged.

Under the big exam, prepare from the worst and work towards the best, a tough battle of coordination, mobilization, and defense from point to surface begins.

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Gaopi's Battle Against Typhoon: Thrilling Five Days and Five Nights

As soon as "Sula" left, "Sea Anemone" arrived, and the provinces, cities, counties, and towns were on high alert

On September 3rd, the strongest typhoon "Sula", which was raging westward along the coast of Guangdong, just left Guangdong. Typhoon "Haikui" hit Guangdong with abundant rainfall.

"Affected by typhoon 'Haikui', in the next few days, there will be rainstorm to heavy rainstorm in Meizhou, local extremely heavy rainstorm, with process area rainfall of 80-120 mm, local 200-250 mm, and maximum hourly rainfall of 40-60 mm." On the 3rd, this meteorological information was widely broadcast to the citizens of Meizhou.

At 3:30 pm that day, when "Haikui" made landfall in Taiwan as a strong typhoon, its outer wind and rain circle had already affected Meizhou. Typhoon path prediction shows that "sea anemone" is highly likely to make landfall again in eastern Guangdong, which will bring a large amount of precipitation to the Meizhou area.

At this time, the upper reaches of the Han River have been affected by the spiral cloud system around Typhoon "Sula" and have experienced a heavy rain, with a significant increase in water levels and high soil moisture content, posing a great threat to the downstream.

Two tough battles within a few days have made the whole province, city, and county dare not take them lightly.

"Do we need to transfer this time?" Seeing the meteorological news pushed by his phone, Xiao Jie, a resident of Gaopi Town and an elderly person who has been paralyzed for many years, quickly contacted the town party and government officials. Due to the unique nature of Gaopi, he has experienced multiple "water immersion houses".

"Don't worry, be prepared, we will definitely arrange for the transfer," the staff of the Party and Government Office replied.

20 hours ago, at 5 pm on September 2nd, the National Flood Control Administration launched a Level 3 emergency response for flood and typhoon prevention in Guangdong, continuously dispatching flood control work.

Afterwards, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government successively made deployment arrangements, and the Provincial Defense Bureau conducted multiple rounds of consultation, judgment, command and dispatch, and held video conferences to further track and assess the deployment and prepare for defense. At the same time, the working group led by the deputy department heads of member units dispatched by the Provincial Defense Administration conducted inspections and supervision in various cities, including Meizhou.

Photo by Zhang Ling of Gaopi Water Conservancy Hub

On the evening of the 3rd, Meizhou launched a Level 4 emergency response for wind and flood prevention. Dapu County, where Gaopi Town is located, immediately issued a yellow rainstorm warning signal. The Meizhou Three Defense Department organized the Meizhou Hydrological Branch of the Provincial Hydrological Bureau, the Municipal Water Affairs Bureau, and the Municipal Meteorological Bureau to conduct a comprehensive analysis and judgment on the impact of typhoons, the distribution of rainfall in Meizhou, the storage of reservoirs in the Hanjiang River Basin, and the water situation in the river channel. They also focused on analyzing and arranging the defense situation of key towns such as Gaopi in advance.

At this moment, the county and town have also made preliminary preparations: vacating school buildings, sports venues, etc. as relocation points for the masses, preparing for life rescue supplies to ensure emergency relief and resettlement of the masses, arranging fire rescue forces to prepare for the battle

It is better to prepare than not to use, and not to use without preparation.

Zhang Panqi, the mayor of Gaopi Town, introduced that the experimental primary school in the town has been arranged as the main resettlement site, and another primary school has been used as a backup site to accommodate the transferred population. "Prepare beds, sheets, and other supplies in advance for each classroom, and reserve hundreds of tents for future needs. Sign cooperation with nearby supermarkets in advance to purchase clean drinking water based on the principle of 'pay as much as you use'."

At this point, from provinces and cities to counties and towns, they have been fully armed and prepared.

Three major reservoirs have been pre discharged for 34 hours, freeing up 8.5 West Lake through "regulating capacity"

On the evening of September 3rd, Jiang Ping, the chief engineer of Meizhou Hydrological Branch of the Provincial Hydrological Bureau, stared at the real-time weather radar echo map displayed on the screen, frowning.

This frontline chief engineer who has just finished fighting against "Sula" seamlessly began to fight against "Sea Anemone".

"Based on the analysis and prediction of early rainfall and soil moisture, we believe that the meteorological forecast rainstorm area is highly coincident with Meitan River and other rivers with more early rainfall, so there is a great possibility of flood."

After conducting overnight tracking and analysis, Jiang Ping issued a water risk warning for rivers such as Meitan River at 9:00 am on the 4th, reminding relevant reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Han River to make early adjustments.

Upon receiving an emergency call from Jiang Ping, Wen Wenjun, the head of the Water and Drought Disaster Prevention and Dispatch Department of the Meizhou Water Bureau, discovered that the key water conservancy projects upstream of the Han River - Shuangxi Reservoir, Gaopi Water Conservancy Hub, and Changtan Reservoir - all have high water levels. Among them, the water level of Gaopi Water Conservancy Hub has reached 37.86 meters, which is only 0.14 meters away from the flood season limit water level.

This number surprised Wen Wenjun: if a flood were to come at this time, the reservoir that had not been able to discharge in time would be almost defenseless.

The difficulty of flood control in the Han River lies in the Three River Dam. The Meijiang River, Tingjiang River, and the important tributary of Tingjiang River, Meitan River, converge here. If the three rivers flood simultaneously, the lower reaches of the Hanjiang River will be unimaginable.

To manage these three floods, the reservoir is an important shield: the Shuangxi Reservoir controls the Meitan River, and the Changtan Reservoir is located in the Shikou River, an important tributary of the Meijiang River. The most crucial is the Gaobei Water Conservancy Hub located on the main stream of the Han River, about 5 kilometers upstream of Gaobei Town. The water level and outflow of the dam directly affect the safety of the entire town.

"Advance pre discharge is urgent!" At 10am on the 4th, just one hour after receiving the water situation warning, the Meizhou Water Bureau immediately organized the Dapu County Water Bureau to issue the first dispatch order to confront the "sea anemone": the Meitan River Shuangxi Reservoir immediately organized pre discharge to free up storage capacity.

Afterwards, a series of commands were sent densely flying towards the reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Han River——

By 8 pm on September 5th, in just 34 hours, the water levels of Shuangxi Reservoir, Gaopi Water Conservancy Hub, and Changtan Reservoir were lowered by 6.52 meters, 2.1 meters, and 1.68 meters respectively, freeing up a total storage capacity of about 120 million cubic meters, equivalent to 8.5 West Lake water storage capacity in Hangzhou.

At this point, the three major water conservancy hub projects in the upper reaches of the Han River have been adjusted to prepare for the battle.

The Provincial Three Prevention and Control Office dispatches Meizhou three times a night, and hydrological measurements go up against the flood

On the morning of the 5th, as "sea anemones" landed successively in Dongshan, Fujian and Raoping, Chaozhou, the offensive and defensive battle began.

The "sea anemone" landing at the level of a strong tropical storm seems not to have strong energy, but because of the "train effect", it is carrying a powerful and long rainstorm.

The provincial meteorological station predicts that due to residual vortices, the "sea anemone" brings long rainfall time and accumulated rainfall, which has a certain degree of extreme characteristics. At noon on the 5th, Guangdong adjusted its level 3 emergency response for wind prevention to level 4 emergency response for flood prevention, and quickly shifted the focus of defense from wind prevention to flood prevention.

As time passed, the slowly moving "sea anemone" began to gradually show its power. Starting from 1pm on the 6th, within 24 hours: the cumulative average rainfall in Meizhou city is 98.4 millimeters, with the station with the highest rainfall reaching 277 millimeters, which is a once-in-50 year rainfall!

On the evening of the 6th, heavy rain also fell in the upper reaches of the Han River in Zhangzhou, Fujian, which has made the flood control situation in downstream areas such as Meizhou and Dapu more severe.

On this evening, the Provincial Three Defense Office made three video dispatch to Meizhou; At the same time, at the dispatch and command center of the Provincial Water Resources Department, the department held emergency consultations overnight with the Provincial Hydrological Bureau, the Hanjiang River Basin Management Bureau, and the Meizhou Water Affairs Bureau to assess the flood control situation in the lower reaches of the Hanjiang River.

The flood control decision has entered a critical moment, but precise rainfall and water data are needed at this time.

Under the night, Peng Zuoyi, an engineer from the Hydrological Information and Forecasting Center of the Meizhou Hydrological Branch of the Provincial Hydrological Bureau, and his colleagues went to important sections such as the Sanheba in the Han River with the sole purpose of obtaining first-hand hydrological data such as water volume and water velocity through real-time monitoring, and correcting prediction errors in a timely manner.

The staff of the Hydrological Information and Forecasting Center of the Meizhou Hydrological Branch of the Provincial Hydrological Bureau carried out hydrological monitoring at the Sanheba section. Photo by Zhang Ling

Rainstorm poured all night long. At this time, the Sanheba River was already turbulent and the undercurrent was surging at the bottom of the river. Ships and equipment could be washed away at any time. Peng and his colleagues were facing the wind and rain, going against the current.

Amidst the surging waves, the measuring ship sailed towards the center of the river: one person was responsible for steering and promptly avoiding floating objects such as trees and bamboo heads on the water surface; One person is responsible for protecting the three body ship equipped with monitoring equipment to avoid collision or getting caught in a vortex; One person is responsible for monitoring the shipborne acoustic Doppler velocity profiler to ensure its normal operation and accurate data sampling.

On a river surface over 430 meters wide, the measuring ship travels back and forth several times and is launched for monitoring every 4 hours.

The hydrological data captured in a race against time gave the anxious analysis a clearer result: "There is a high possibility of a numbered flood occurring in the Han River! Gaopi Town is in urgent need!"

The staff of the Hydrological Information and Forecasting Center of the Meizhou Hydrological Branch of the Provincial Hydrological Bureau carried out hydrological monitoring at the Sanheba section. Photo by Zhang Ling

The occurrence of numbered floods indicates a critical situation downstream of the Han River, which is even more deadly for Gaopi Town.

Located about 30 kilometers downstream of Sanheba on the main stream of the Han River, Gaopi has a low terrain and no protective embankments, making it the most dangerous area. During the Dragon Boat Water and Typhoon Season, floods can cause disturbances.

Starting from the early morning of the 7th, provinces, cities, and counties will implement comprehensive scheduling of the Meitan River, Tingjiang main stream, and Meijiang River to ensure the downstream of the Han River and Gaopi River are not lost.

A life and death battle against the flood opened the most tense curtain.

The first urgent thing is the Meitan River.

"Meitan River is about to experience a super alert flood! Please arrange for Shuangxi Reservoir to increase its pre discharge capacity immediately!" Just after midnight on the 7th, the Director of Dapu County Water Bureau, Guan Yingsheng, received a dispatch notice and decided to gradually increase the outflow flow of Shuangxi Reservoir from 800 cubic meters per second to 1500 cubic meters per second.

Once the outflow volume of Shuangxi Reservoir is increased, the flood will reach Fenglang Town in 30 minutes, Baihou Town in 1.5 hours, and the county in 4 hours. Afterwards, officials and colleagues will dynamically adjust the discharge volume of the reservoir based on the upstream water, while ensuring that the downstream is not flooded, and make the most of the time window for flood discharge.

In hindsight, this decision was crucial as the Meitan River flood, which had arrived earlier, was discharged ahead of schedule, thus freeing up storage capacity in conjunction with the Meijiang River flood. 10 hours before the Meijiang flood peak, Shuangxi Reservoir discharged a total of 45 million cubic meters of flood, which is equivalent to the storage capacity of Shenzhen Reservoir.

For the first time using the transfer plan, 4608 people should be transferred without any omissions

But the situation did not give people a chance to breathe. In the morning of September 7, the Wuhuaqin River in the upper reaches of the Meijiang River also began to rain heavily to rainstorm, and local heavy rainstorm; At the same time, the Yongding River and Zhangxi River in the upper reaches of Tingjiang River tributary also experienced heavy to rainstorm.

The situation is becoming more tense: the simultaneous generation of floods in the Meijiang and Tingjiang rivers poses a risk of overlapping and increasing, coupled with the previous floods in the Meitan River, there is a possibility of convergence in the three rivers floods that Gaopi Town is facing!

At 10:30 am, the latest water forecast from Sanheba Station came: the flood peak of the Han River main stream will appear at 4 pm, with a flow rate of 6500 cubic meters per second, exceeding the warning water level by 1.5 meters!

At this moment, the resources and forces of the whole province are constantly gathering towards Gaopi Town: the main responsible personnel of the Provincial Water Resources Department led a team to rush to the front of the Hanjiang Gaopi Water Conservancy Hub to command; 25 members of the Meizhou Mining Rescue Team urgently received orders to depart from Jiaoling County and prepare for duty in Dapu County; The Dapu County Fire Rescue Brigade organized team members to conduct real-time monitoring and inspection of the water level and low-lying areas in the river section at the pre duty points such as Gaopi, and evacuated surrounding residents.

At noon, the outflow flow of Gaopi Water Conservancy Hub approached 4800 cubic meters per second, approaching the maximum downstream capacity.

At 12:25 noon, the Provincial Three Prevention Office urgently connected with the Provincial Department of Water Resources to conduct a special study on the water situation in Gaopi Town and dispatch and command work.

Only 15 minutes later, a new water forecast came from Sanheba Station: the water level at 12 noon had reached 41.43 meters, and it was expected to reach 44.5 meters at 10 pm, exceeding the warning water level by 2.5 meters, with a flow rate of 7300 cubic meters per second.

This is a terrifying prediction value. The standard for Han River flood numbering is that the water level at Sanheba Station reaches the warning level or the flow rate reaches 4800 cubic meters per second, while the predicted peak flow rate is more than 1.5 times the numbered flow rate.

The flooding of Gaopi Town is a high probability event and is already in danger!

Once the coastal defense is lost, it is expected that four fifths of the old urban area of Gaopi Town will be submerged, and low-lying areas will be submerged by about 2.5 meters, which directly threatens the safety of more than 4000 people's lives and the normal production and operation of more than 700 shops.

Human life is at stake, and personnel transfer is urgent.

At around 1 pm, Gaopi Town held an emergency meeting and decided to implement the emergency evacuation plan. At 1:30, a notice requesting residents to evacuate was issued, marking the first time that Gaopi Town has initiated an emergency plan for evacuation and transfer.

Gaopi Town organizes the evacuation of local residents for map supply

Based on the worst-case scenario of flooding in the entire town, the evacuation range is determined based on a water level of 44.5 meters and a flow rate of 7300 cubic meters per second, including 13 streets in the old urban area such as Fudi Street, Chaixing Street, and Market Street. 1874 households and 4608 people need to be relocated, including 74 key groups such as the elderly, children, pregnant women, and disabled people.

"The flood is coming, please follow the command and evacuate in an orderly manner!" After the evacuation alarm sounded, the fixed large horn and the mobile small horn roared, quickly spreading throughout the streets and alleys of the old city area.

Based on the fact that Gaopi Town is prone to flooding, the local government compiled a crucial list of flood prone people in the old urban area last year and continuously updated it dynamically. The list is accurate to each household, including specific address, number of family members, contact phone number, whether to seek refuge with relatives and friends or go to resettlement sites during transfer, whether there are people in the family who need special care, and the names and phone numbers of corresponding flood control responsible persons.

This critical list played a significant role at a critical moment. In response to this roster, all party members, cadres, and community grid members of Gaopi Town quickly descended to the front line and organized door-to-door evacuation of the masses.

However, the work of mass transfer is more difficult than imagined. Most people understand and actively cooperate, but there are also some people who do not understand and are unwilling to withdraw.

"The flood may be coming soon, Uncle, hurry up and evacuate!" Around 4 pm, Vice Mayor Wen Jianchang and town officials of Gaopi Town, who came to persuade the masses to evacuate, gathered in front of Uncle Huang. The other person sat in the rocking chair with no sign of getting up.

Rescue personnel went deep into areas with severe flooding in Meizhou to carry out rescue operations. Photo by Li Yongzhi

The scene was once deadlocked.

"Isn't the flood still here? I won't withdraw." Almost every year in the local area, the street is "flooded", and Uncle Huang, like many people, has formed his own set of flood prevention "concepts": "If the first floor is flooded, move to the second floor, if the second floor is flooded, move to the third floor..."

At this moment, a more intense flood is rushing in: at 4:20 pm, the Meijiang Yellow Flood Warning was issued, becoming the first yellow flood warning issued in Meizhou this year. 10 minutes later, the Sanheba Station received another water forecast: the flood peak of the Han River main stream will appear at 2am on September 8th, with a flow rate of 6000 cubic meters per second, exceeding the warning water level by 1.5 meters.

Wen Jianchang's heart became even more anxious as he urged Uncle Huang, "If we don't withdraw, it won't be too late!" "Don't worry, the resettlement site has various guarantees and can be raised at any time if needed." "There are people patrolling the street, so don't worry about the situation at home."

After patient persuasion, Uncle Huang finally turned around to pack his luggage and rushed to the resettlement site.

By evening, the relocated population will have basically evacuated. Then comes the more time-consuming confirmation work.

"If there is no response, knock again. If there is still no response, continue knocking until it is confirmed that there is no one inside the house before leaving." Wu Qianjie, the leader of the rescue and transfer team in Gaopi Town and the chairman of the town people's congress, led an emergency rescue team composed of village cadres, fire brigade, public security officers, etc., according to the division of labor in the grid, divided into 5 groups to conduct door-to-door inspections, ensuring that no household or person is left behind.

In the end, all 4608 vulnerable individuals were safely relocated in advance. Zhang Panqi, who ran across 13 streets that day, walked nearly 30000 steps in total.

Extreme dispatch, flood level with Linjiang Road for 17 hours

At the same time as personnel are being transferred due to tension, emergency and water conservancy departments at all levels continue to work tirelessly to ensure the preservation of Gaopi Town, striving for the best results.

From the afternoon of the 7th until late at night, the Provincial Defense Administration and the Provincial Third Prevention Office continued to track and dispatch the dangerous situation in Gaopi Town at the Provincial Emergency Command Center. That night, the Meizhou Emergency Management Bureau was brightly lit.

Dispatch orders are issued intensively, and defense "combination fists" are frequently swung:

In response to the flood from the main stream of the Tingjiang River, which is the enemy to the north, multiple national and provincial departments have jointly dispatched the Fujian Mianhuatan Reservoir located in the upper reaches of the Tingjiang River to "zero outflow". Dapu County has dispatched the Tingjiang Qingxi Reservoir to reduce the outflow flow by over 600 cubic meters per second.

In response to the flood from Meijiang, the enemy to the west, fully utilize the large and medium-sized reservoirs in the upstream to intercept the flood. The Changtan Reservoir is gradually controlling the outflow flow rate to within 12 cubic meters per second and reducing the peak flow rate to a maximum of 200 cubic meters per second.

In response to the flood from Meitan River, the enemy to the east, a large part of which has already been discharged, the Shuangxi Reservoir has been gradually reduced to 150 cubic meters per second to alleviate the pressure on Sanheba.

Firefighters in Dapu County observe water conditions along the river and provide local maps

In the main stream of the Han River, the Han River Gaopi Water Conservancy Hub has released a storage capacity of 66.8 million cubic meters and lowered the water level in front of the dam by 5.29 meters.

Through a series of precise drainage and coordination of river reservoirs, floods from three major directions are gradually cleared through spatiotemporal interweaving in a complex water network, resulting in a reduction of 2000 cubic meters per second in the peak flow of the Han River main stream, which is controlled below the numbered flood.

Although the peak water level in Gaopi Town was lowered by 1.8 meters as a result, at the most critical moment, the flood was already level with the road facing the river and lasted for a full 17 hours thereafter.

At the Bazi Wharf, the lowest lying area of the entire Gaopi area, nearby flood control personnel dare not relax for a moment and maintain close monitoring. The investigation of various risks and hidden dangers continues until dawn.

Until 10am on the 8th, the flood peak at Sanheba Station finally passed through and remained at 41.81 meters, not exceeding the warning water level.

"3100, 3000, 2780..." On the afternoon of the 8th, Liu Jiancheng, the Party Secretary of Gaopi Town who had been fighting for several days, still endured fatigue and constantly paid attention to the outflow flow of the Gaopi Water Conservancy Hub. As the flood gradually subsided and the outflow of goods steadily decreased, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Throughout, the flood did not cross the shoreline of Gaopi Town.

From September 3rd to September 8th, after five days and nights, the defense battle of Gaopi Town finally came to an end.

Han Jiang's recovery remains calm, and Gao Pi's return brings peace and tranquility to the years

The floods have receded, the Han River has recovered calmly, and Gaopi still has a peaceful time.

On the morning of September 8th, Huang Shu, who returned to his shop in the old town area of Gaopi Town, was particularly surprised: the first floor, which is usually flooded during heavy rainfall, did not receive a single drop of water this time. When villager Yulina left the resettlement site and pushed open her home, she also breathed a sigh of relief. Everything at home was safe and there were no signs of being soaked in water.

Aerial photo taken by Zhang Ling of Gaopi Town after the flood

Behind the "dripping water" lies the "wisdom and courage struggle" between the province's three defense front and the "sea anemone", which is the establishment of extreme thinking and bottom line thinking at all levels and places, and the heartfelt use of the people.

On September 13th, the Provincial Defense Administration issued a notice stating that the heavy rainfall on "sea anemones" had basically ended. However, the meteorological department warned that the "sea anemone" vortex had not gone far, and the weak cold air was carrying rain again. There was still continuous rainstorm in some parts of Guangdong, accompanied by the risk of secondary geological disasters such as mountain collapse, landslide and debris flow.

The battle will not stop, a new tough battle may be tomorrow. Putting people first and life first is an unwavering commitment and foundation.

Under the tranquility of time, it is actually heart wrenching.

[Text] Southern+Journalist Qi Lei, Li He, Xu Lin, Chen Zeming, Luo Xiaohua

[Photography] Southern+Reporter Zhang Ling and Li Yongzhi

[Editing] Southern+Reporter He Zhihao

[Coordination] Huang Can, Wang Xiyong, Xu Lin, Chen Ge, Wang Haijun