China News Service, Xinxiang, July 25 (Reporter Lang Lang) Lao Yang can't remember how long it has been raining. He was tired of moving piglets. He only knew that it was dark and dark and bright again.
On the night of July 23, he stood on the east side of the G107 country road, looking at the road separating Weihui City and Muye District in Xinxiang City, Henan Province.
Unlike the city, the village has a drainage system. The only field is the only container that can receive floodwater.
The flood allowed Lao Yang to spend two turbulent nights. He had moved to the temporary settlement site with a blank look. If this place is flooded again, where can he go?
Where should the piglet go?
On the evening of July 23, officers and men of a certain unit of the Mobile Detachment of the Henan Armed Police Corps organized a force to investigate the water conditions on the south side of the Muye Bridge on the G107 National Highway.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
The field becomes a lake, and the lake rushes into the pig farm
On July 22, when everyone's eyes were still focused on Zhengzhou, in Xinxiang, about 90 kilometers northwest of the city, a torrential rain seemed to pour all the water here all at once.
The previous night, the 2-hour rainfall at Muye Station in Xinxiang City was 267.4 mm, which exceeded the maximum 2-hour rainfall of 262.5 mm in Zhengzhou on the 20th.
On the 22nd, the rain increased further.
Lao Yang is a worker at a pig farm in Jicheng Village, Weihui City, Xinxiang. He has never seen such a heavy rain before in his 50s.
From the early morning of the 22nd, the Henan Meteorological Observatory has issued a red warning of heavy rain every 3 hours: The precipitation in Anyang, Hebi, Xinxiang and other places has reached 50 mm, and the precipitation in the above areas will continue in the next 3 hours.
The picture shows the schematic diagram of the relationship between the two rivers and surrounding villages
At around 5 pm, the flood from the communist channel overflowed into the Weihe River, and the flood drained off the Weihe River.
The river flowing from the southwest to the northeast soon flooded the surrounding farmland.
Lao Yang watched the field in the distance turned into a lake. The "lake water" flooded into the pig farm. The water in the yard rose from as deep as the ankle to the calf, then climbed the steps and filled the house.
Xinxiang City Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters Office issued a notice to Muye District and Weihui City, requesting all villages from below Weihe Xinzhong Avenue to exit the city to urgently transfer the masses and organize personnel to go to the embankment to block the mouth for rescue.
On the evening of July 23, in Xinxiang, Henan, some people were relocating due to dangerous conditions in some sections of the Weihe River, including the Xinxiang section.
Photo by Lang Lang
That forklift has become everyone’s safety sustenance
Lao Yang couldn't sit still, he went out to look at the pigs, and the water for a while, and when he returned to the house, the flood had already flooded his bed.
"Boss, we missed, we have to withdraw."
It was 8 o'clock in the evening, and the water outside the yard had reached Lao Yang's waist. In just half an hour, the water reached his chest. He was about 1.65 meters tall and he was walking in the water with difficulty.
The mobile phone was the only thing he took away. He wrapped the mobile phone in three layers of plastic cloth and placed it in his chest pocket.
Then, I got a forklift with my boss and moved the pigs out one by one.
Tonight, the forklift was their only safety sustenance.
Wang Genhua, a cattle farmer in the same village as Lao Yang, has dozens of cows. At first, she couldn't find the cart to transport the cows, so she cried anxiously.
After finding the vehicle, he sent the ox to the hopper with his brain, and loaded it as much as possible.
Armed police, firefighting, and rescue teams arrived. By means of assault boats and lifeboats, everyone began to move.
Before they could bring too many things, people hurried away after carrying necessary food, water and clothes in plastic bags.
Residents of Quhan Community in Muye District on the west side of G107 National Highway were transferred to higher-floor hotels, and Weihui City on the east side of National Highway resettled the transferred residents in temporary settlements with higher terrain.
Lao Yang drove the pigs into the yard of the resettlement site. More than 1,000 pigs lost half, and all the piglets before the full moon died; 20 tons of soybean meal and 10 tons of corn were all soaked in water and the loss exceeded one million.
At 5 o'clock in the morning on the 23rd, the water was almost one person high. When he returned to the factory to pick up the last piglet, Lao Yang saw that the boss was wiping his eyes.
On the evening of July 23, the water level on the west side of the G107 National Highway continued to rise.
Photo by Lang Lang
The woven bags in the village ran out, they tied the clothes
On the 23rd, the rain had not stopped, and the Henan Meteorological Observatory continued to issue yellow thunder warning signals.
The Xinxiang City Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters issued a message that from 8:00 on July 17 to 7:00 on the 23rd, the average rainfall in Xinxiang City was 830 mm and the maximum rainfall was 965.5 mm.
According to incomplete statistics, 107 villages and towns in Xinxiang City, Hui County, Weihui City, Changyuan City, Huojia County, Yuanyang County, Fengqiu County, Yanjin County, Xinxiang County, Weibin District, and Hongqi District were affected. At 15:00 on the 23rd, the affected population was 1,288,075, of whom 26,105 were emergency shelters, and 114,011 were emergency resettlement populations.
The water in the Weihe River and the Communism Canal was still rising. By the evening, the flood had flooded all the roads in the Muye District and spread to the G107 National Highway.
With the gap between the road isolation belts, the flood has a tendency to spread to the other side of the road.
On the evening of July 23, residents filled sandbags to fight the flood.
Photo by Lang Lang
The surrounding residents began to save themselves.
The surrounding enterprises and factories in Weihui City and Muye District donated woven bags and sand. Five or six hundred residents filled sandbags spontaneously. All men, women and children participated, hoping to close the gap between the isolation belts.
But the water rose too fast. In about two hours, the water on the west side of the national highway was impassable for cars, and there were still a lot of gaps, but the sand and woven bags were almost used up.
I can’t take care of that much. There are not enough woven bags. People tie their trouser legs to hold sand; when the sand is used up, the residents of a large food province have to use flour bags on top...
The resettlement site is no longer safe, they move a
second time
At 8 o'clock in the evening on the 23rd, the water was still rising.
The overburden at the G107 national highway made the resettlement site moved the previous night no longer safe, and the local area started the second transfer.
Fire and rescue teams from Jiangsu, Shandong and other places continue to strengthen, and various professional civilian rescue teams are also continuing to rush to the scene.
The large vehicles of rescue forces such as the armed police, firefighting, and rescue teams were parked on the east side of the G107 national highway, and other rescue teams were still joining in.
"The rescuers told me that the hotel is not safe, so I should run away." said a resident who was transferred from the hotel.
People who have been transferred for the second time can't bring anything except to take good care of their families.
The picture shows the people transferred out of the second time.
Photo by Lang Lang, a reporter from China News Service
The youth carried the elderly, their parents held their sleeping children, and some people were still wearing pajamas... Since the resettlement site after the second transfer has not been determined, after being rescued, people temporarily waited for arrangements on the side of the higher terrain.
Some residents revealed that in some communities of Quhan Community, there are still many residents who have not been transferred out.
But it was 11 o'clock in the evening, and it was dark, unable to see the direction, unable to find the way, and the rescuers could not enter.
The water is still rising.
There are oceans on both sides of the national highway. Even if it is a tall warehouse, you can only see the roof at this moment...
The picture shows the transferred pig.
Photo by Lang Lang
Lao Yang and the pigs he looked after were still in the temporary resettlement site. On the G107 national road, the water on the west side of the road was almost level with the height of the isolation belt. From the gap, water continuously flowed out quietly.
The rescue is still going on. Lao Yang doesn't know how long he can stay in this temporary resettlement site, when the water will go away, and he doesn't know whether the boss will continue to raise pigs in the future.
At the moment, the only thing he can do now is to take care of the pigs that escaped.
(Finish)