Someone unfortunately died, Hebei Laishui calls for help! Rare Floods Passing through Mountainous Areas Floods | Terrain | Mountainous Areas

The scenery along the way made Huai Ce feel heartbroken. The mountain collapsed, the road was cut off, and the houses were also buried. His home is located in Tangjiazhuang Village, Zhaogezhuang Town, Laishui County, Baoding, Hebei Province. It is a mountainous village.

The collapse of the west after the rainstorm. The pictures in the article are all provided by the respondents.

Laishui County is located in the northern part of the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains, with the Juma River passing through the Yesanpo Scenic Area. According to People's Daily, from July 29th to August 1st, Laishui County experienced heavy rainfall, and was also affected by surrounding rainfall. Rivers such as Juma River, Nanjuma River, Yishui River, and Xiaoxi River had steep and long water levels, and the mountainous areas, especially the Yesanpo Scenic Area, were severely damaged.

In the village of Huaice, most young and middle-aged people work outside, while the majority of those left behind are elderly people. Huai Cechu has lived in the county seat for more than 20 years. After this rainstorm, he lost contact with his relatives in the village.

Floods combined with mudslides make rescue efforts in mountainous areas extremely difficult. On the 2nd, despite dissuasion, Huai Ce decided to return home with the villagers to save lives.

Zhang Qiang, a villager from Xipogen, Tangjiazhuang Village, also took the risk of returning home. However, his return journey was blocked by a flooded road, and the situation was more serious than he had imagined.

Huai Ce's father told him that someone had died in his hometown, including their loved ones. Huaice has been so anxious these past few days that he can't eat, and he also worries about the food shortage of the trapped villagers.

In the mountainous area of Laishui, communication was interrupted in the rainstorm, and the voice of "call for help" seemed difficult to spread. After the rainstorm, they were waiting for rescue and disaster relief.

"Among the victims, there were my aunt and two daughters from their families."

Narrator: Xilou Villager, Tangjiazhuang Village, Zhaogezhuang Town, Laishui County, Huaice

On the afternoon of August 2nd at around 1 o'clock, our group took a detour back to their hometown from Yixian, which is adjacent to Laishui County. We passed by Songshukou in Sanpo Town, which is the village of my wife's family. The road was severely washed out. I pressed against the edge of the village road, got on the Zhangzhuo Expressway, and then returned to Xilou.

The situation I saw along the way was too dire. The mountains collapsed, some houses were buried, and the river was not as it used to be. The ditches and forks were filled with water. If the house is gone, it can be rebuilt. What should we do if the people are gone?

We actually risked our lives to go back. On the road we walked, there was a cliff next to us. There were also two mothers who went back with me. Our children stayed in their hometown during the summer vacation. They said, if the child is gone, we won't live either.

In the era of the production team, our Tangjiazhuang village was divided into eight teams, with each team separated by several miles. I worked for Captain Xilou until I was fourteen or fifteen years old. Many other teams have not been there yet, but within the same team, the villagers are all relatives of the same ethnicity and surname.

After I went back, I saw the situation and felt really uncomfortable: on such a hot day, we were sweating when we went out to wear clothes. It had been three or four days since July 31st when we became wet, and their bodies were covered with a piece of plastic or rain cloth, all rotten. Opening the curtain, we couldn't even recognize who was who.

When the west collapsed after the rainstorm, villagers stood in the destroyed village.

There are about 8 young people returning with me who can still move, but the elderly are still trapped inside. Today I went back again, and there was a rescue team walking behind us. We rescued a few more people, and when we returned, everyone was exhausted and paralyzed.

But that afternoon, my dad called me - he was in Laishui County and relatively safe. He said that Xilou has confirmed the deaths of some people, including my aunt and two daughters, as well as their families.

Tangjiazhuang Village is located in a mountainous area, unlike the urban waterlogging in Zhuozhou, where there are also mountain floods and mudslides.

We live halfway up the mountain, with the river in the valley, but who knew it was a flood and mudslide this time. The difficulty of rescue is too great, and the most practical tools may be drones used for detection and airdrop, even off-road motorcycles, helicopters, forklifts used for road construction, and so on.

Animal corpses, sheep, cattle, pigs and dogs on the roadside are also rotten and deteriorated, so they are exposed to the air and need some disinfection and sterilization urgently.

Houses after the rainstorm.

Our village has no economic source, and young people can only go out to work. I have been out of the village for more than 20 years, so when the flood came, we were able to be safe, but this time we spontaneously organized to return home for rescue.

My brother and sister-in-law also went back on the evening of the 2nd, and only contacted them on the evening of the 3rd. They had been out of touch before. I haven't slept for two days and two nights, and I can't eat enough, so I drank some water. The trapped people in the village didn't eat enough and could only drink rainwater.

In recent days, many people in the village's WeChat group have been brainstorming and trying to call the citizen hotline, fire brigade, or rescue team for help. What we hope is that Zhangjiakou City, which is close to the village, may carry out cross city rescue. We have had a mountain fire before, and the fire fighting in Zhuolu County, Zhangjiakou City has been very effective in rescue.

"We brought a rope and went back to the village to save people."

Narrator: Zhang Qiang, a villager from Xipogen, Tangjiazhuang Village, Zhaogezhuang Town, Laishui County

I only found out after returning this trip that it was much more serious than we had imagined. I am a villager from Xipogen, Tangjiazhuang Village. We formed a team of six people from the same village and set off together to return to the village at around 6pm on the 2nd.

At Pengtou Village, which is a must pass village, we met a local village official who told us that four or five corpses had been retrieved, but we don't know if it was our village that rushed down. Our village is upstream of Pengtou Village.

Before this trip, the government suggested that we wait for one or two days of news and not go there on our own, but we were very anxious.

Starting from Laishui County, we only brought a reel of rope. After driving to Pengtou Village, we stopped the car and started hiking up the mountain, but we couldn't walk back at all. The water submerged the road unless we used climbing methods. We went up a mountain from a distance, and later it got late at night. We couldn't see far with a flashlight, so we had to go back and wait until the next day to climb the mountain again.

Our village is located in a valley, a depression between mountains, but now, from mountain to mountain, it is already a river channel.

At around 1am on the 3rd, we returned to Laishui County and prepared to depart at 4am, hoping to detour as far as possible from the mountains and find our parents before finding a way out.

West slope root after rainstorm.

"It's a devastating blow to our project"

Narrator: Guo Gang, operator of the tourism project in Sanpo Town, Laishui County

I am in Duya Village, Sanpo Town, next to a famous scenic spot called Yunxi Valley. I don't live there, but I have been stationed there for almost three months because our project is there.

Yesanpo has developed from many years ago into a town mainly focused on the Baili Gorge loop tourism. There are certainly hundreds of famous and private attractions along the entire loop, big and small. Yunxi Valley is one of the private tourist attractions, which was very famous before the epidemic. It can receive around 20000 people per day, and during normal large holidays, it may be between 30000 and 40000, and there may be even more.

We started a new tourism project last year, which is a micro vacation that includes camping, dining, parent-child activities, and water activities.

Because on the wasteland by the Juma River, floods are a devastating blow to us, and in fact, they have an impact on the scenic areas along the entire ring road to some extent.

The Wild Sanpo Drifting Ground was impacted by floods.

[1]

At around 5:50 am on July 31st, we started to see a surge in prices, which took about an hour to consume half of our project. By around 11 pm, the entire project was gone.

Two days ago, the government successively notified major tourist attractions to suspend ticket sales, suspend business, and then transfer tourists to clean up the materials that need to be cleared. But there were probably two warnings before this flood, and the flood did not come. So many operators have not fully rescued the items.

This flood exceeded everyone's imagination. Our entire first floor is gone, and the lower positions on the second floor are also gone.

Guo Gang's project site was hit by floods.

The two warnings were officially issued, and the last one was a notification letter signed, informing them to put away the tent and not to accommodate anyone.

We signed it on the 30th, but it was stormy from the 29th to the 31st. We were unable to get back some materials. There were only a few people on the project, and the equipment needed engineering vehicles.

Because no one knows the situation ahead, before noon on the 31st, it was decided that I would be the main one and go out to explore the water situation first. If I can leave, I need to quickly transfer people.

Our project site is about three to five minutes away from the intersection of Yesanpo Expressway. At that time, we saw severe landslides along the way, with muddy water on the road. There is a bridge below the main bridge, which should have been about 7 meters high. When I walked, the bridge body may have been exposed for less than 3 meters, and half of it was already gone.

I was pulling my own employees and the merchants we worked with in the car. When I reached the highway, I called my colleagues who stayed in the village, but they were basically unreachable.

Our company is in Xiong'an, and it may only take an hour to drive on the highway from Yesanpo. Around 4 or 5 pm that afternoon, there was suddenly another signal. I contacted my colleagues at the project site and there were no major issues, so there was no further communication that day.

But we couldn't get in touch again around 9pm to 10pm on the 31st, and we didn't get in touch until around 6pm on August 2nd.

Today I brought them back. It's not safe to drive there and I took some risks. At present, the water level has dropped, from a height of 8 to 10 meters when the base water level rose at its peak, to a height of one or two meters now.

But there are still quite a few people trapped inside. Because there are only two highway exits on Yesanpo, Yesanpo and Bailixia. After getting off the highway, there may be a collapse on the bridge and road midway, and vehicles may not be able to pass through, making it impossible to rescue in a timely manner.

The roads near the Guo Gang project site were washed away by floods.

Guo Gang passed by a overturned vehicle.

My project is close to the highway entrance, so it is more convenient. But as we walked forward from our project, about one or two hundred meters, the main road and bridge were broken.

There are a total of 5 workers on my end, and 3 of them came back with me. The 2 employees who were trapped there experienced water, electricity, and power outages, as well as insufficient food and drink. They also had the kind of rash that caused dampness on their bodies, and their current condition is very poor.

The project site has a reserve of food, but it is also based on normal living security. I didn't expect floods, let alone the possibility of flooding our office on the first floor or the office on the first floor of the dormitory. We live in upper and lower bunks, and now the upper bunk on the first floor is covered in mud, and we can't even find a pair of slippers.

In the past two or three days, communication has been interrupted and we are unable to contact the outside world, so there has been relatively little news coming out from here, more from Zhuozhou.

[2]

Our employees were transferred to a homestay on the mountain on the evening of July 31st. It is also because the village cadres organized an upward shift that there may not have been any greater casualties, after all, the local area has experienced two floods in 2012 and 2021.

Today when I went back to see it, it was just like after an earthquake, and even more severe. Some areas may have a foul odor, including the smell of rotten fish, pigs, and ducks. The rescue passage that was temporarily cleared can only pass through one vehicle.

The storefront along the street is slightly higher, and the first floor is completely submerged. The mud on the ground floor with glass windows can reach more than 30 centimeters, while the lower level homestays have completely removed the roof, making it impossible to accommodate people.

When the flood strikes.

I still have lingering palpitations. Just now, I was talking to my friends that it wasn't until I contacted our employees on the 2nd that I really slept all night. It didn't matter much about material and property, mainly personal safety.

On the 31st, when I couldn't reach our colleagues, I contacted the villagers, village secretaries, and some people from the local government, but none of them could be reached.

That night, I sent a video asking for help in Tiktok. It may take five or six hours, and the number of readers has reached 430000.

The next day, I started calling the government departments in Yesanpo and Laishui counties, including the 12345 hotline in Hebei. Their feedback was that someone had already gone to rescue, but there was no signal from those who had gone, so they were waiting and there were currently no casualties.

On the noon of August 1st, I obtained the satellite phone in the village through some groups, but it was still in progress or temporarily unable to be connected.

In some villages in the mountains, there are relatively few people, most of whom are left behind elderly people. They mostly use elderly machines, which cannot reflect urgent situations. I forgot which village it was. There may be around 30 households with bridges over 30 or 20 meters away from the village, but the bridges have already been washed away, and the main road has also been washed away. It is completely disconnected from the outside world. The only thing they can do is to move towards higher places and up the mountain.

Even so far, there have been cases of disconnection, and I see that many people in the group are also looking for some contact information. Today, there was a rescue operation, and I noticed that there were drones available to drop some supplies in the direction of Baili Gorge. The government also distributed some bread and instant noodles yesterday, and the drinking water is a large bucket of water.

Our tangible investment in this project is around 17 million, and intangible investment cannot be counted. We are still in the upper middle of the scale, with a larger investment and a greater possibility of losses.

"The road in the village was washed away, and I climbed over the mountains and waded through the water."

Narrator: A villager from Heishui Temple, Jiulong Town, Laishui County, Linlin

I returned home from school on July 30th, when it was already raining. On the 31st, the rain became particularly heavy. Our village is located in the mountains. In order to store water and irrigate the land, we built a reservoir in a relatively high area.

On the morning of the 31st, water began to accumulate in the village, but the water was not yet that large. It was only water coming down from the mountain ditch. By around 4 pm in the afternoon, the water in the reservoir had also come down.

When I was watering, my parents were eating at my grandmother's house in another village. My sister and I wanted to study at home, but we didn't go together, so we were trapped at home. At that time, there were also a grandfather, two uncles, and six or seven villagers who came to seek refuge at home.

The water first rose to a piece of land below our house, and soon the road was swallowed up, making it impossible to go out and contact the outside. At that time, these villagers happened to be near our house and couldn't go back to their own homes, so they moved in first. I didn't know them before.

Because we didn't know how big the water would be, we ran up the mountain together and also saw other villagers running up the mountain. However, my home is relatively upstream, so the water only flowed a little into the house, and later flowed down the main stream.

After half an hour on the mountain, feeling that the situation was not as serious, my family and I went down the mountain, returned home, and drained the water from our house - we didn't dare to stay overnight on the mountain. First, we were afraid of the cold, dark, and mudslides. Secondly, we were also worried that the water would suddenly become too big and we would be trapped on the mountain and unable to come down. At least there will be some food at home.

But we don't have much supplies either. The most scarce thing is water. When there is a power outage, it is impossible to boil water and drink it. The water received in the bucket in advance cannot sustain it for long. We still have some gas at home for cooking, but the food cannot be stored for long in hot weather. If we can't finish a meal, it will spoil. There is still some leftover food in the refrigerator, which can last for one or two days, but also due to a power outage, it will quickly break down and cannot be eaten for a few days.

If other households in the village are accustomed to using electricity to cook, they cannot cook or eat at this time. I am not sure about the material reserves of other families either.

That night, I was particularly scared. I have experienced this flood for the first time, and I am afraid that the water will rise again, so I dare not sleep. The adults at home take turns guarding, watching the movement of the water. I have been hearing the sound of water hitting the stones outside, like thunder.

Later on, we never went up the mountain again, so we stayed at home and waited.

The next day, the rain slightly decreased and the water slowly receded. At this point, there is no water left at home, only the low terrain at the village entrance is still inaccessible. On this day, those villagers also left my house.

I feel very lucky, except for the crops being flooded, my family has no other losses. Some households are close to mountain roads and may be directly impacted. There are also many villagers downstream who may be washed away quite severely.

When it rains, the people in the village are unable to pass through and communicate with each other, and can only manage themselves. Later, when the rain decreased, you could visit around. At this point, some villagers upstream will run downstream to help rescue some items and drain water together. When my uncle went to help, he said he saw some people's cars or even a part of their house washed away.

Yesterday, it cleared up for a while, and then it remained cloudy. My parents came back from my grandmother's house and were a bit surprised. They said they had never heard of the situation in the village before. In the afternoon, my dad stayed at home, and my mom and I went out of the village together. My mom was going to work in the town, while I wanted to rush back to our university.

When there are usually no floods, the road out of the village is very easy to walk. There is debris and stones rushing down the road now that need to be avoided. I walked down from my home upstream and passed through Yesanpo. The lower the terrain, the more water there was. I first followed the area with relatively low water flow, but when I couldn't walk anymore, I followed a slope at the foot of the mountain and arrived at the village entrance.

The village entrance has a lower terrain, and most of it has already been flooded. I followed the house at the entrance of the village and walked out onto the road next to me. Several sections of the road were washed away, but it took me about half an hour to get out of the village after crossing the water and mountains. When there were no floods before, it only took about 5 minutes to drive out of the village.

Originally, there were three roads from our village to the outside, but now only this road is available, and the bridges on the other two roads have been washed away. The road I'm walking is actually partially broken, but there are still mountains to walk on.

I know a rescue team is trying to get in, but the highway leading into the village collapsed. There are still many elderly people and children in the village, and I don't know if they can come out. I am afraid that the water will become bigger and cause mudslides, so this mountain road cannot be walked, and wading in the water is also easy to be washed away.

I am currently at school and not very clear about the situation in the village, nor can I contact my family. There is a signal tower next to where Mom works, and everyone can go there to report safety. Because of this, I occasionally get in touch with my mother, but I didn't get through to her phone today.