East China's Anhui Province is under severe threats of floods from the Yangtze River- the largest river in China- and the Huaihe River running through it as a result of heavy rainfall in the upstreams over the past few weeks.
Given the increasingly severe flood situation in the province, the Provincial Government of Anhui activated the first-level flood response on the afternoon of last Saturday. According to statistics released by local meteorological authorities, 1,517 meteorological stations in Anhui lying between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River recorded downpours from last Saturday to Sunday. In particular, 846 of the stations recorded great downpours and 126 torrential downpours.
The water level of three major reservoirs in Anhui- Foziling, Bailianya and Mozitan- is above the flood limit level. The reservoirs began to increase flood discharge last Sunday.
In the next three days, rainfall is going to get weak and move northward. But on Monday, the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River in the province is going to see heavy rainfall. Naturally, the two regions will continue to face huge flood relief pressure.
On Sunday afternoon, The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters sent a panel to Anhui to guide flood response on the frontline. On the same day, the Ministry of Emergency Department dispatched 1,500 flood relief team members from Shanghai Municipality, Zhejiang Province, Shandong Province, and Henan Province to Anhui to support its fight against the floods.
According to the Huaihe Water Conservancy Commission (HWCC), the water level of the Anhui section of the main stream of the Huaihe River is rising continuously. At 11:00 on Sunday, Wangjiaba Station recored a water level of 28.78 meters, 1.28 meters above the warning line.
It is expected that by Monday night, the water level will reach 29.3 meters -- the safety guarantee level. The water level of the whole section of the Huaihe River in Anhui will have been over the warning line by Monday night. In consideration of the severe situation, the HWCC decided on Sunday to activate the second-level flood response and required water resources departments in the basin of the Huaihe River to strengthen prediction and monitoring of the situation.
The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has instructed the governments of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan in the vicinity to pay greater attention to monitoring dikes and allocated relief supplies and human resources to areas expected to be hit by the floods. In the meantime, the Anhui section of the main stream of the Yangtze River is also posing a threat. The water level of Chuhe River, a first-grade branch stream of the Yangtze River, has risen quickly due to incessant heavy rainfall and floodwater from the upper stream.
To ensure the safety of residents living in the basin, Anhui has put into use two flood storage areas, which are 11 square kilometers large in total, and exploded the dike of Chuhe to discharge floods on Sunday morning. Quanjiao County has activated the first-level flood response. "After the flood discharge, the water level at the Xianghe Dam declined from the highest point of 14.39 meters recorded on July 19 to 13.83 meters recorded at 12:00 on the same day. It should be said that the fall is significant," said Dong Biao, director of Quanjiao Bureau of Emergency Response.
Also, Nanfeihe River in Anhui's capital city of Hefei was rising so fast since Sunday morning that it was close to the surface of a bridge. Local authorities swiftly dispatched dozens of heavy trucks onto the bridge to protect it. By 13:00 on Sunday, the first 30 heavy trucks arrived. They could increase the weight of the bridge to improve its defense against floods.
Because the bridge is of a steel box girder structure, rising water will generate buoyancy to the bridge, but the weight of the heavy trucks on it will offset the force. By 18:00 on Sunday, the water level below the bridge had decline. The number of the trucks on the bridge also dropped from 30 to 12. China's National Health Commission has also issued a direction on Sunday to require local governments to pay attention to medical support in flood relief efforts.
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