Author: Liu Shuqiao

Meteorological disaster preparedness safeguards people's livelihoods during this year's flood season

Source(s): China Meteorological Administration
The Yangtze River has flooded Chongqing, China in 2020
dyl0807/Shutterstock

During this year's flood season, many localities have witnessed broken records of precipitation. The heavy rainfall have wreaked havoc and brought myriad impacts. During this period, Chinese meteorological departments have carried out effective monitoring and forecasting, and made full-fledged deployments in terms of disaster preparedness. Let's have a snapshot.

Meteorological services ensure safe evacuation of residents

Recently, heavy rain has gripped many regions of Henan and Hebei. The meteorological office made early warning ahead of time and provided valuable information for relevant sectors. Meteorological services are more timely and refined, which have also been instrumental for the government to make science-based decisions.

For instance, from July 20 to 22, the cumulative rainfall in Caojia village and Houchi village in Guanfang town, She county went beyond 351 mm. Actually, within 10 days, three heavy rain processes have made the disaster hazards grow exponentially..

During this heavy rain process, many villages and towns of She County were lashed by rainstorm. The region is susceptible to mount torrents risk. From July 20 to 22, heavy downpour battered She county. The average precipitation registered 223.4 mm. Among them, 4 villages and towns have witnessed process precipitation (above 250mm).

To address the heavy rain process, meteorological department in She county has rolled out accurate and timely forecasting and early warning information.

All these have enabled timely and orderly evacuation of personnel, and minimized the impacts of rainstorm.

Severe weather waits for no one. Safety comes first. Evacuation work was further guaranteed through effective meteorological services.

By 5 p.m. on July 21, the entire county has carried out evacuation of 4906 people, including those at risk of mount torrents and geological hazards.

Meteorological forecasting and early warning information provides support

At the end of August, Manlai town, Yuanjiang county, in Yunnan was battered by successive rain.

In particular from August 24 to 25, heavy downpour triggered landslide and mudslide in Tuantian village, Manlai town in many localities, damaged over 20 houses, and endangered property and life security of residents.

Forecasting and early warning provided by the meteorological office has warned of potential disaster risks and mitigated losses.

At 4:19 p.m. on August 23, Yunjiang meteorological office sent key weather information to all villages and towns and warned of disasters like mount torrents, landslide, mudslide, and urban waterlogging.

At the noon of August 24, according to the updated forecast information, the rain would continue. This means action should be taken to evacuate residents in hazard-exposed regions to temporary safe haven.

The county-level meteorological office established the support team, carried out meteorological early warning and targeted services, and provided continuous early warning information for disaster-hit regions around the clock. All these have ensured that rescue and relief staff timely mastered the meteorological information and organized the evacuation of more residents.

By 12:00 a.m. on August 25, through the joint efforts of emergency response relief workers and relevant personnel, 128 residents was safely evacuated to temporary housing. At this point, 182 residents in hazard-exposed regions in Manlai Town were smoothly evacuated.

During the personnel evacuation, the county meteorological office has released forecasting and early warning information to 2697 people including meteorological information personnel and directors from relevant sectors.

From 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. on August 22, regional heavy rainstorm pounded Langzhong, Sichuan. Precipitation has surpassed 100mm in 51 stations. The maximum rainfall registered 377.2mm in Erlong county.

This record-breaking rainstorm has rendered flooded street, power grid disruption, as well as landslide, rock falling and mount torrents in many national and provincial highways.

For example, the heavy rain process has triggered surging flooding in the river bank within Langzhong. Meteorological departments have released timely forecasting information and bought time for the swift evacuation.

Coupled with multiple heavy rain processes in July, Langzhong was subjected to heavy soil water content, and disaster hazards have piled up.

After the early warning information was released, 28 towns and streets have evacuated 5890 people, with no personnel casualties. Targeted at this process, meteorological departments have kept tabs on the rain condition change, reported on relevant information, and provided key basis for decision-making and deployments.

On August 8, rainstorm slammed Chongqing. Daily precipitation reached 175.2 mm in the national meteorological observatory in Fuling, breaching historical extremes since the earliest meteorological record.

Different sectors have joined hands to cope with the rainstorm process. As the rain gained intensity, the meteorological center in Fuling was quite occupied. Through accurate prediction and discreet analysis, the deputy director of Fuling meteorological department decidedly made the guidance to release the red alert of rainstorm.

From 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on August 8, the cumulative rainfall in Xinmiao registered 177.3 mm. With the coordination of different sectors, the village has safely evacuated 14 people from 8 households. Timely meteorological early warning has ensured property and personnel safety. Villagers also remarked that thanks to the early warning released by meteorological departments, they were able to make preparations in advance.

By 9:00 a.m. on August 10, Fuling district has evacuated 834 people. Relevant departments have taken measures to arrange the post-disaster reconstruction.

Innovative early warning model plays a role

From June 27 to July 3, heavy rain process with long duration and heavy cumulative rainfall walloped Guangxi from north to south. The cumulative rainfall in 2 cities, 4 towns (districts) and 6 villages and towns in Guilin, and Liuzhou surpassed 600 mm.

With the alert from meteorological forecasting and early warning, relevant sectors have swiftly taken precautionary measures. During this process, meteorological departments at all levels in Guangdong conducted close-knitted coordination and “meteorology plus grid point” innovative early warning model have bought more time for disaster preparedness.

Timely meteorological early warning has also made for the safe evacuation of residents in many villages and towns.

The effective response to the rainstorm is closely linked to the application of “meteorology plus grid point”. This model has reduced the duplicated transfer of meteorological disaster hazard information, and bought more time for disaster preparedness.

Amid this process, meteorological departments have altogether released 835 early warning texts, reaching 34.506 million people.

During this flood season, increasingly accurate meteorological prediction and early warning have played an important role in emergency response and disaster relief. Elaborate services have underpinned disaster preparedness and safeguarded people’s production and livelihood.

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