CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Recently, Chongqing has been hit by rare severe floods in its history. The 2020 No. 5 Flood of the Yangtze River and the 2020 No. 2 Flood of the Jialing River passed through the center of Chongqing’s main districts one after the other. At 14:00 on August 18, Chongqing upgraded its emergency response for flood control to Level Ⅰ. When floods hit Chongqing, rescuers patrolled 24 hours a day in dangerous moments: driving boats to rescue trapped people, checking for hidden safety hazards and transferring people’s property...What they did were touching.

According to Upper Changjiang River Bureau of Hydrological Water Resource Survey, this round of flooding caused the water level in Chongqing section of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers to significantly exceed their capability, for which Chongqing continued to face flooding pressure in high water level.

On August 18, the water face of the Jialing River was getting closer to Changbin Road. At 2:00 p.m. on August 18, the emergency response for flood control was upgraded from Level II to Level I, and Chongqing immediately entered an emergency period for flood control. 

As a result of the flooding, a number of low-lying areas in the center of Chongqing’s main districts suffered from waterlogging, so government workers made emergency efforts to combat the flooding. The photo shows that Caiyuanba Fruit Market was flooded on the afternoon of August 19.

At 3 p.m. on August 19, seven people were trapped in a riverside building of Haitang Xiaoyue. Firefighters were immediately sent with two lifeboats in response. When firefighters arrived at the site, they found the first floor of the residential building had been largely submerged with less than half a meter left. Firefighters took into account that two of the trapped were a 70-year-old citizen and a 2-year-old girl, so they carried the citizen and the girl to the lifeboat.

On August 19, some streets in Banan District were flooded as water levels continued to rise. More than 30 elderly people with walking problems in a nursing home in Tuqiao Town, Banan District, needed to be urgently moved. Firefighters urgently moved the elderly to a safer place.

On the morning of August 19, the first floor of a hotel apartment on Changbin Road was flooded, while the ninth floor of a hotel was still occupied by five lying-in women and five babies, the youngest of which was born only three days. The narrow road prevented lifeboats from entering the building. With the help of the maternity hotel staff, rescuers could move the women and babies out in a wooden box.

On August 19, CRT Line 2 was running normally. Across the river, the road along Jiangbeizui was also submerged.

For the dispatch of hydraulic engineering, Chongqing actively communicated and coordinated with the Ministry of Water Resources, Changjiang Water Resources Commission and Sichuan Province in the upstream to minimize flood control pressure by jointly dispatching the Three Gorges, Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba and Tingzikou reservoirs. The familiar road was nowhere to be seen on Nanbin Road, pictured here on August 19.

Chongqing Water Resources Bureau has sent eight supervisory teams to supervise and guide in the forefront along the riverside districts and counties, respectively for Hechuan, Beibei, Tongliang, Tongnan, Shapingba, Jiangbei, Yuzhong and Nan’an, so as to help carry out the evacuation and transfer of flood-threatened people. Lifeboats were pictured patrolling in the Jialing River on August 19.

To cope with secondary disasters triggered by the passing floods, Chongqing Municipal Health Commission has organized six teams of municipal experts to be on standby for possible emergencies. Chongqing Center for Disease Control and Prevention has also arranged technical teams for epidemic prevention and control. When the floods recede, it will immediately send experts to severely affected districts and counties to provide technical guidance on environmental and drinking water disinfection and assist in post-disaster epidemic prevention and disinfection. The picture shows that on the evening of August 19, Nanbin Road was seen to be flooded when looking out over the Raffles City Chongqing.

At 3 a.m. on August 20, Blue Sky Rescue and the militia of Yuzhong District were on a rescue mission in Daxigou, Yuzhong District.

On August 20, rescuers in a lifeboat successfully saved a two-year-old child from a hotel at the intersection of Nanbin Road and Xiaoyue Road. The floods have not completely receded, while flood control is continuing. Let’s keep fighting, Chongqing! (Translated by Wang Huixin, Fathom Language Limited)