Ningyuan Village is located only about 20 kilometers away from Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake. When the weather is fine, you can often see crisscrossing streams and fertile fields.
Speaking of agricultural economy, the village chief Ye Hehui has always been proud. Ningyuan Village has an excellent geographical location. The soil here is highly fertile and three crops of rice can be grown a year. The wave of migrant workers in the 1990s drew away many young men from nearby villages. Only Ningyuan Village, relying on the rich rewards of being a village of fish and rice, remained unshakable and built electric lights and roads long ago. This was considered the earliest among the nearby villages at that time, which made Ningyuan Village very vain at that time.
Although floods and droughts have always occurred in the vicinity of Poyang Lake, they have never threatened Ningyuan Village.
Many people say that it is the credit of Hongqiwei upstream. That levee protects the safety of dozens of villages large and small in Sanghu County. In the 1980s, when the "land distribution to households" was implemented, nearby villages all sent people to build the levee, one work point per hour, and that's how Hongqiwei stood. Over the years, no matter how other places suffered from floods and waterlogging disasters, Ningyuan Village, located downstream of Hongqiwei, was always safe and sound.
But Ye Hehui thought this statement was nonsense. It was not the credit of the dike at all, but the good feng shui of this place. According to the previous generation, Ningyuan Village had a cone-shaped outline, which was the treasure bottle of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.
A place where essences gather, it is blessed by Bodhisattva! Otherwise, Hongqi Weir would not be as solid as a rock. One year, a flood broke a corner of the weir, farmland was damaged, and three villages were washed away. However, the water bypassed Ningyuan Village, which made everyone in the village more convinced of the saying of the treasure bottle.
During this year's flood season, although people have been told to be on high alert since the beginning of the year, the villagers are still doing their own thing. Sun Zuofu, a large farmer, has contracted an additional ten acres of farmland this year and planted cotton and rice. He is just waiting for the market to go up and get some good prices so that he can have a good year and build a small building for his naughty kid to get married in the future. The rest of the villagers are doing the same.
However, the continuous heavy rains still added an extra layer of worry to the people of Ningyuan Village. Thinking about the fact that previous floods had caused little damage to Ningyuan Village, everyone could still sit still to some extent.
That night, the rain was actually lighter than the previous few days. Ye Hehui even asked a few elderly people who knew about the weather to analyze the situation. They all said that this was a good sign and the weather was getting better. Perhaps in a couple of days, the people patrolling the dike at Hongqi Market would bring good news.
Ye Hehui slept very soundly tonight, but in the middle of the night, she could hear the noisy ringing of the phone. Ye Hehui, who hadn't slept well for several days, put on her clothes and went to the gate. The village chief's house was the only one in the village that had a phone installed, which was used as a tool for communication with the outside world. But when the phone rang in the middle of the night, Ye Hehui's heart skipped a beat.
When he picked up the phone, a mechanical and unreal female voice sounded, still striking his eardrums that had not yet fully awakened. "The Binhe County Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters notifies you that the current area has seen heavy rainfall of more than 400 mm. The water level of the Binhe Dam has exceeded the warning capacity by 1.9 meters, setting a record high. There is a risk of dam collapse. All units and people who have received the notification are requested to move to safe areas immediately..."
Ye Hehui was briefly confused by the novelty of this. How could she be notified by phone like this? This thing is so advanced!
But he reacted in a short time, and the sleepiness in his head disappeared.
Isn’t the Binhe County Dam just upstream of Hongqiwei
He had seen the water storage capacity of the dam that year, it was a big lake, with abundant water plants, fish and herons! Once the dam collapsed, Hongqiwei, including Ningyuan Village further downstream, would become a pond!
Although Ningyuan Village had always been safe and sound in floods... this time, he didn't dare to gamble with his life.
Ye Hehui quickly woke up her wife and asked her to pack up and run away. She took the tweeter off the wall and ran in the rain, knocking on doors and notifying every household.
The village was in chaos. Some were dissatisfied, unconvinced, and doubted how the village chief could get the news so quickly. Some said that the people who patrolled the dikes in Hongqi Market had gone there, and if there was any movement, they would come over to report...
The old village chief yelled at the top of his voice, "This time it's not Hongqiwei, but the Binhe County Dam. The Flood Control Headquarters called to inform us. If a flood comes, Hongqiwei will be nothing! Evacuate now!"
Two hours later, when the villagers of Ningyuan Village moved to the high ground, they saw flocks of birds flying all over the mountain between the cliffs and heard the roar that sounded like a group of beasts galloping in the forest.
Hundreds of households in the village had just climbed up the mountainside when a strong wind came howling.
The flood peak poured down from between the two mountains, and dozens of houses that were hit first seemed to be pushed by mercury, breaking into pieces and then disappearing.
Everyone knows that the water line on their mountain seems slow, but when you are actually in that area, you will understand how fast it is.
The flood peak caused geological subsidence. Half of the mountain that was just in front of people suddenly disappeared, leaving only a few pine trees with their roots half tied to the edge. They were crooked and it was hard to believe that they were once part of a lush pine forest.
The houses of Ningyuan Village can no longer be seen. On a slightly higher ground, an object that looks like a fishing buoy can be seen. It is the flagpole of the village primary school.
Only after reaching the top of the mountain could the villagers of Ningyuan Village have a general overview of the whole picture. The dozen or so villages and nearby towns that could be seen from the top of the mountain before have now been swallowed up... All they could see were huge waves.
The old village chief turned around and looked at the villagers behind him, most of whom were safely evacuated although they were crying and wailing.
He didn't know whether other villages and towns had received the same early warning calls before and had been safely evacuated.
In this world, the only thing left is the immortal and indestructible mighty power of nature.
…
The violent storm slammed against the cold steel carriages of military vehicles. In a camp of a certain unit of the Nanjing Military Region, groups of young soldiers in military uniforms lined up in formation. After inspection, the order was issued, "All battalions, get on board! Set off to fight the flood!"
The roar of car engines tore through the rainy night.
Teams of such steel torrent troop carriers advanced in the rain to many distressed areas on this land.
On the collapsed dams, on the treacherous mudflats, in the flooded towns and villages, there were soldiers everywhere carrying sacks, heading against the mountain torrents, holding hands and jumping into the flood peaks to build dams with their bodies.
Many years later, their photos will still be at the forefront of the history of fighting floods, and the times will remember all of this.
…
During the fifteen days from June 12 to 27, continuous heavy rainfall caused floods in the Poyang Lake water system.
After that… The water levels of Fuhe River, Xinjiang River and Changjiang River successively exceeded the highest water levels in history, and floods broke out in Zishui River, Yuanjiang River and Xiangjiang River of Dongting Lake system. The floods of the two lakes merged into the Yangtze River, causing the water level below Jianli in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to rise rapidly.
In July, Yichang experienced several flood peaks.
In August, Jiujiang River broke its dike.
People sank transport ships filled with coal, sand and gravel to block the gap, and used cars and train cars filled with sandbags, stones, and even corn, rice, and soybeans in warehouses to block the gap.
It was not until the end of August and September that the water level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River gradually dropped, after eight flood peaks ravaged the entire basin.
So far, a total of 29 provinces, cities and autonomous regions across the country, including the hardest-hit areas of Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and Heilongjiang, have suffered from this disaster.
The affected area exceeded 300 million mu, the disaster-stricken area was nearly 200 million mu, the affected population was 223 million, the death toll was 2,149, 6.85 million houses collapsed, and the direct economic loss reached 166.6 billion yuan.
It is worth mentioning that according to statistics from the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, this is the flood disaster with the most serious losses but the lowest death toll since 1991. The death toll of 2,149 people is less severe than the disaster in 1996 which resulted in 5,840 deaths. It has to be said that this is a blessing in disguise.
The reduction in casualties is also due to the accurate and timely warnings of the disaster prevention and early warning system. The name of the Fulon Company, which developed this system, came into people's attention for the first time at this time.
Let’s make some adjustments and update once today.
This book is expected to cover the time when Cheng Ran finishes college, reminiscing about youth and hoping to spend this wonderful time with everyone.