On-the-spot report of ＂8.15-8.17＂ rainstorm and flood in Leshan, Sichuan Province

From August 15th to 17th, Leshan City, Sichuan Province ushered in a new round of heavy rainfall. Coupled with the water from the upper reaches of the Three Rivers, rivers in Leshan City generally flooded. The water levels of Qingyi River and Minjiang River rose sharply, and suffered two rounds of flood peak crossing. The flood peak water level at Xiaogongzui where the three rivers meet was 363.15m, and the flow rate was 23,900m3/s, which was the biggest flood since 1995, causing the dike in Xiaogongzui section of Leshan to overflow by 0.2m to 0.6m..

Compared with the previous round of rainstorm and flood, this round of rainstorm has a wide coverage, large rainfall level and strong hourly rainfall. The flood involves a large number of rivers and the increase is large, making flood control and disaster relief more arduous. In the face of severe tests, Leshan City moved up and down at the news of the flood season, made careful arrangements, made full efforts to meet the challenges, and implemented various flood control and disaster reduction measures in detail to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.

Rapid mobilization and deployment

"Adhere to the people first, life first, always maintain a wartime state, always be ready, resolutely win the hard battle of flood control and disaster relief, and ensure that the people of the city spend the flood season safely and smoothly." "We must not be afraid of fatigue, continue to fight, and go all out to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property and ensure the safety of the flood season." Leshan Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government attached great importance to flood control and disaster reduction. Facing this round of heavy rainfall, the main leaders of Leshan Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government presided over the video dispatching meeting of flood control and disaster reduction in the whole city, deployed the response work, and went to the front line to supervise the flood control and disaster reduction work.

"All levels and departments should make use of the only 30-hour golden gap between the two rounds of heavy rainfall, pay close attention to verification and investigation, pay close attention to danger removal and reinforcement, pay close attention to the Tengku to meet the flood, and pay close attention to the replenishment of flood control materials." According to the trend and forecast of water and rain conditions, Leshan Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters timely issued the Emergency Notice on Doing a Good Job in Post-disaster Recovery and Active Response to Storm and Flood in the Later Period, the Emergency Notice on Doing a Good Job in Flood Prevention for Ships on Water, the Emergency Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Prevention of Heavy Rainfall in this Round and the Emergency Notice on Doing a Good Job in Flood Prevention in Leshan Section of Qingyi River, and the current flood of Qingyi River was controlled at 15,000 cubic meters per second (once in 20 years).

Leshan City Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters held a video dispatch meeting in time to dynamically judge the trend of rain and water conditions 24 hours a day. On August 15th, it started the city’s level IV flood control emergency response, and on August 16th, it was upgraded to the city’s level III flood control emergency response. Targeted arrangements were made for the deployment of response preparations, and all flood control responsible persons at all levels and those responsible for monitoring, inspection, early warning, transfer, rescue and resettlement at the "last mile" grassroots level arrived at their posts in time.

Prepare in advance

In the face of this round of heavy rainfall, all parts of Leshan maintained a wartime state, mobilized and deployed early, and implemented various flood control and disaster reduction measures in detail to ensure safe flood control.

All parts of Leshan made overall plans to do a good job in the last round of after-rain verification and the new round of before-rain investigation of heavy rainfall, and carried out full coverage investigation on the coastal areas of major rivers, hidden points of ground disasters, reservoirs and dams, construction sites, etc., and timely organized rescue teams to carry out danger removal and danger removal for existing safety hazards. If the rectification cannot be completed in a short period of time, all the people will be responsible for monitoring and duty, and an emergency plan will be formulated. Comb and anchor all ships, and resolutely put an end to ships out of control.

All parts of Leshan once again increased the propaganda of people’s risk-avoidance transfer in key areas such as hidden danger points of ground disasters and dams in the river center, once again organized the masses to be familiar with the transfer route, and actively educated and guided the masses to enhance their awareness of active risk-avoidance. Strictly implement the requirements of "Three Avoidances" and "Three Emergency Evacuations", make every effort to organize people to avoid danger and transfer, and resolutely "turn around and turn around". As of 23: 00 on August 17th, Leshan has transferred 18,341 people. Among them, 5093 people were transferred from the dam in the middle of the river, 3545 people were transferred from the ground disaster, and 9703 people were transferred from the mountain torrents and low-lying areas of rivers. Actively coordinate the municipal traffic police departments to carry out temporary parking in heavy rainfall, and effectively meet the needs of residents’ vehicles to avoid risks.

The flood control safety of industrial and mining enterprises has been strengthened in Leshan, and 29 hazardous chemicals enterprises in the city have implemented flood control measures and temporarily stopped production. There are 35 coal mines in the city, and 13 are in normal production. All of them were temporarily suspended before this round of heavy rainfall. There are 125 non-coal mines and tailings ponds, all of which were temporarily suspended before this round of heavy rainfall.

Hidden dangers of A-level scenic spots and farmhouses were inspected in all parts of Leshan. As of 14: 00 on the 17th, ticket sales in six scenic spots in the city were suspended. Giant buddha suspended the sale of mountain tickets from August 17th, while the daytime tour of the Yangtze River, the "night tour of Sanjiang" and the "night tour of Lingyun Mountain" continued to be suspended. Emei Mountain Scenic Area temporarily stopped selling tickets and sightseeing tickets at 14: 00 on the 16th, and the scenic area will adjust relevant measures according to the rainfall.

All-out emergency rescue

Affected by the heavy rainfall in the upper reaches, the water level of Minjiang River keeps rising, and the water level exceeds the warning level many times from August 16th to 17th. At 22: 00 on August 16th, the flood peak flow of Wuyou Temple water level station in Minjiang River was 23,900 cubic meters per second, which caused the foundation and slope protection of Laojiangba River embankment in Jindeng Village of Leshan High-tech Zone to be destroyed by 400 meters, seriously endangering the safety of the river embankment, and threatening the safety of 523 households and 1,756 people behind the embankment. The flood control headquarters of Leshan High-tech Zone started the Class III emergency response to flood control in time, and the villages and towns organized villagers to transfer to avoid danger in time, and all 1748 people were transferred except the rescue personnel. More than 500 rescue workers, including armed police, firefighters and militia, immediately entered the actual combat state and started construction 24 hours a day. By 23: 00 on August 17th, a total of 15 rescue machines were put into use, more than 300 tetrahedrons were thrown, more than 1,000 tons of bags were transported and 25,000 woven bags were used for slope protection, and the collapsed dike was robbed and protected, which quickly controlled the danger. Many communities and underground garages in downtown Leshan are flooded, and relevant departments have piled up more than 5,000 sandbags for flood control in many dikes, strengthened defensive duty, set up warning lines and warning signs, and implemented special personnel control to prevent the river from gathering. Dispatch emergency patrol and rescue teams, dispatch large-scale pumping and drainage facilities, power generation facilities and emergency patrol vehicles. For the 27 property communities affected by the disaster, we will fully organize rescue and disaster relief. At the same time, organize personnel to conduct 24-hour on-site duty and inspection on important infrastructure such as bridges, water supply and dikes along the river.

In order to ensure the safety of transportation, Leshan City has strengthened the safety supervision of "two passengers and one danger" enterprises, buses connecting every village and ferries crossing the ferry, and strengthened the investigation of accident-prone sections, dangerous sections, sections facing the water and cliffs, and sections facing the ridge. During this round of rainstorm and flood, the city’s roads collapsed by 3,000 cubic meters, and the broken road at K1802+650 on the G348 line of Qiqigou, San ‘e Village, Shawan District, National Highway 348 is being repaired. Seven broken roads in rural areas have been rushed through, 27 lines have been suspended, 2 vehicles have been stopped, 142 rural passenger vehicles have been stopped, and 314 ships of various types have been fixed.

As of 23: 00 on August 17th, nine counties (cities, districts) in Leshan City were affected to varying degrees in this round of heavy rainfall weather, with 30,242 people affected, and no one was reported missing due to the disaster, and the affected area of crops was 1,268.53 hectares. The city has dispatched more than 9,000 rescue forces and 1,385 rescue vehicles, rescued 28 trapped people, eliminated 115 geological hazards, eliminated 9 urban waterlogging, restored 484 roads and restored 99 power lines.

According to the forecast of the meteorological department, there will still be heavy rainfall in Leshan City from the evening of August 17th to August 18th, with the rainfall of 60-90 mm in the whole city, in which the local area in Shizhong District, Shawan District, wutongqiao district, Jiajiang County, Emei Mountain City, Qianwei County and Muchuan County can reach more than 100 mm, with the maximum rainfall of 130-160 mm and the maximum hourly rainfall of 40-60. At the same time, Ya ‘an, Meishan and Chengdu in the upper reaches issued blue rainstorm warnings. Leshan city, the city’s emergency response thinking is not relaxed, so that measures are not reduced, the intensity is not reduced, to ensure the safety of the people in the city.