Seeing and hearing the one in a century mighty flood– Yingde disaster assessment blog
World Vision's Guangdong representative office in Guangzhou is just a 30 minutes metro ride from Yingde, where we are heading to assess the flood disaster. It is shorter than the one-hour commune I take daily from home to the office. This struck a chord with me; the threat of disaster is never that far away from us.
► The water destroyed the flood dike and washed the rubbles into residential areas.
At 12:34, June 22, 2022, the Hydrographic Bureau of Pearl River Conservancy Commission under the Ministry of Water Resources issued a red flood alert. Due to heavy rainfall, the water flow at Beijiang Shijao Station at 12:00, June 22, 2022, was 18,500 cubic meters per second, exceeding the maximum historical value measured. At 14:00, the water level at Guangdong Yingde rose to 35.97 meters, 9.97 meters above the danger level, and close to the July 1915 legendary flood in the Pearl River Basin. It was the worst flood in over a century.1
I read about and saw this one-in-a-century flood in Yingde on social media. But nothing prepared me for the anxiety each time we passed landslides. When I was next to the damaged dike. Orr when I stood at the edge of hundreds of acres of farmland destroyed by the floods. Amid the chaos, I'm reminded of how tiny and vulnerable we humans are against a natural disaster.
►Houses damaged by landslides and mudslides.
Frequent extreme weather is causing more natural disasters and increasing the severity of disaster impact. It is no longer possible to rely on experience to prevent or respond to disasters.
A rescue volunteer told me that one of the biggest challenges is that residents have too much experience with floods. You heard me right, "too much" experience. Some areas of Yingde City experience floods two or three annually. Residents are so accustomed to the phenomenon that they choose to stay put when they are told to evacuate when the water reaches dangerous levels. They end up in trouble as the water rises rapidly. The rescue team then has to evacuate one by one using kayaks, which added to the complications of the rescue mission.
The volunteers told me they hardly slept during the first few days as they had been knee-deep in rescue missions day and night. According to preliminary statistics (June 21), about 400,000 people have been affected in Yingde City, and more than 30,000 people have been evacuated.2
►Where the water reached is still visible on the trees. Rescue teams relied on inflatable boats to evacuate residents.
In remote villages, except for a few families who raise silkworms for a living, most families rely on the income of the younger generation who work in cities. In the face of a sudden flood, the elderly with limited mobility have trouble saving themselves, and this puts many children left behind in severe danger.
Fortunately, there have been no reported casualties from the floods in Yingde. But a preliminary report released by the Yingde Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs indicates that from June 12 to 23 at 4:30 p.m., the city's agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishery suffered a loss of RMB382 million. 196,600 mu of crops were affected, including about 71,084.8 mu of rice, resulting in an economic loss of RMB236 million.3
Several farming families to us that although the water has receded, they cannot resume farming yet. The thick mud covering their paddy fields means the current crop is lost. Besides that, they need manpower to first remove the existing crop and dirt before they start planting. The sericulture farmers said it would be two months before any work could begin because their mulberry fields were soaked in water. They also need to buy new silkworm larvae. When our car drove past vast areas covered with dying banana trees, we could not help but feel for the farmers who work on these lands.
►I listened to the primary school's headmaster recount details of the disaster (first from the right).
I saw urgent needs caused by the disastrous flood. Irrigation canals, dams, roads that were washed away, farmlands with no cops to harvest, houses overtaken by mudslides, broken furniture, and much more. But I also heard hope - farmers told us their optimistic plans to start work on their farms; exhausted rescue volunteers said the flood has stirred residents' enthusiasm, and many are volunteering to support their community's recovery; a child shared that he was very scared when he saw the water, but likes staying at the relief shelter because he has many friends to play with.
We may be vulnerable in the face of a disaster, but we can hold on to hope. We can be strong as long as hope exists.
(By Kinson Leung)
[Data Sources]
1. The Catastrophic Flood in the Bei River Occurred Only Once in a Century and That in Yingde Exceeded the Warning Line by 10 Meters! By Analysis, the Floods Emerge as a New Problem of Climate from Chinese Meteorological Enthusiasts. The Measured Flow of Shijiao Station, Qingyuan by the Bei River on the Spot Will Refresh the Record in the Past Century from https://m.cctv.com
2. The Disastrous Flood in Yingde, Guangdong Province Affected about 400,000 People and More Than 30,000 People Were Urgently Transferred from https://www.chinanews.com.cn
3. The Flood in Yingde Caused Huge Losses to Its Agriculture Sector and RMB26 Million Was Prepaid to the Local Farmers from Nanfang Daily, Issue June 30, Page DD03.