Chronicles of Xibakou

Title: At the beginning of summer, Chaohu Lake floods, a once-in-a-century event. Xibakou is the outpost of flood control in Chaohu City.

After several heavy rains in June, I checked the water conditions at the west dam entrance of Chaohu Lake and found that the water level was very low, even lower than the water level in the dry season.

At this time, the cry of "wolf is coming" from other places has been heard.

Is the current comfortable situation of Chaohu Lake during the flood season due to that magical peony?

On the south bank of Chaohu Lake, backed by Yinping Mountain, there is a fairy cave on the mountain, which is dozens of miles long. It is said that it can hide 100,000 powerful soldiers. On the cliff above the entrance of the cave, there is a thousand-year-old peony, with the four characters "Yinpingqihua" written by Zhang Kaifan, the former deputy governor and calligrapher, engraved below.

It is indeed very miraculous to be able to survive in the crevices of the cliffs without artificial protection. Peonies bloom around Grain Rain every year, and their flowers are pure white in color, making them even more noble.

There is a peony viewing pavilion in front of the Immortal Cave. Visitors can use telescopes to see the beauty of white peonies. Since 1997, Chaohu City has held a peony viewing festival in April every year, attracting an endless stream of tourists from Nanjing, Shanghai and other places.

Holding an ornamental festival for a peony flower is unique in the country. This is really "the mountain is not high, but there are immortals who are famous". Immortal, peony also.

Living in one place brings benefit to one place. Since the Peony Fairy has settled in Chaohu, it will bring some benefits to the folks in Chaohu. This benefit is to predict whether the rain will be good or dry that year, so that everyone can prepare in advance and take precautions. This is another unique feature of hers.

If five flowers bloom, the weather will be good that year; if there are less than five flowers, there will be drought; the fewer the flowers, the more severe the drought will be; on the contrary, if there are more than five flowers, there will be more rain; if there are seven or eight flowers, it will indicate a drought. There will be flood conditions.

This year’s Grain Rain peonies bloomed, with a record number of more than 20 peonies blooming. Citizens rushed to tell each other: "It's terrible! There will be a flood this year!"

Such a high-risk early warning will naturally attract the attention of relevant parties, so the Chaohu Gate will be opened early to release water to the storage capacity. .

Therefore, when the flood season comes, there are frequent emergencies in various places, but Chaohu is safe and sound.

However, God’s calculation is not as good as man’s calculation. After entering July, the situation took a turn for the worse...

The Peony Fairy took care of Chaohu, but could not take care of other places.

After July, the rain continued unabated in a large area of ??the Yangtze River Basin, and the river water rose sharply.

Chaohu Lake flows into the Yangtze River through the Yuxi River. Originally, the water level of Chaohu Lake was much higher than the water level of Fenghuang Neck River at the mouth of Yuxi River, so that the lake water could flow into the river automatically.

However, the situation is now reversed. The water level of the Yangtze River has skyrocketed, and it soon overtaken the situation, and the river began to pour into Chaohu Lake.

When this happened in the past, the reverse flow of the river water could be blocked by simply closing the sluice gate of the Fenghuang Neck Drainage and Irrigation Station on the riverside. Or closing the Chaohu Gate at the other end can also prevent the river from entering the lake, but the pressure on both sides of the Yuxi River will be greater.

The situation is different this year. The Yangtze River is more than 10 meters higher than the water level of Chaohu Lake. In order to reduce the pressure on downstream cities such as Wuhu and Ma'anshan, Chaohu Lake has assumed the important task of diverting and storing floods for the Yangtze River since mid-July.

This is China’s game of flood control.

On July 17, the second platform at the west dam entrance of Chaohu Lake was submerged, and the railings on the water pedestrian plank on the west side were only exposed to the water for about a foot.

Under normal circumstances, the trestle is more than one meter above the water, and the railings on the bridge are also more than one meter away. This means that the water level of Chaohu Lake at this time is about 1.7 meters higher than the normal water level.

The rain is still falling.

In the wind and rain, several women stepped over the temporary guardrail of a platform and washed clothes on the steps. Some wore raincoats, and those without raincoats had attendants holding umbrellas.

Life is so tenacious. When the flood comes, life has to be lived and clothes have to be washed.

Worry is inevitable. A woman murmured to herself while picking up her clothes: "God, when will it rain?"

On July 18, only a line was exposed on the railings of the trestle, and the water level rose another foot. , there are only 4 steps left from the dam ridge road.

During a brief break in the rain, a woman wearing high boots and a plastic horse was sitting on a platform of water washing her clothes, looking calm.

She is probably used to this kind of life on the water.

Official news was released in the afternoon: Starting from 15:00 on July 18, the urban defense level 2 emergency response will be upgraded to level 1.

A battle began.

In the evening, my son came back from get off work and said, I am going to prevent floods.

The 10-year-old grandson immediately admired him: "Dad, do you also know how to prevent floods?"

"Of course." The son replied, "When I was your age, I Follow my grandpa on the Chaohu embankment to do flood control duty."

Born in a water town, flood prevention and fighting has been a matter of generations.

Comrade Hu, the former secretary of the Chaohu Municipal Party Committee, is a foreigner. He has worked in Chaohu for nearly two years. He once said with emotion: "The people of Chaohu are not good at economics, but they have a good way to prevent floods.

”

Secretary Hu also has a good way of building a city. In one year, he built Chaohu into a national health city. The public toilets in the city are among the best in the country and are better than many others. The kitchen was still clean, attracting people from outside the house to come and look at the toilets. It was then that I learned that there was an international "World Toilet Day"

Comrade Hu is a practical leader. . Although he is not very good at flood prevention, he recognizes the ability of Chaohu people to resist floods. As a leader, this is enough.

This year is a flood predicted by more than 20 peonies. Chaohu people have a good way of preventing floods. Will face a new test...

Official news: As of 11 a.m. on July 19, the water level at Chaohu Zhongmiao Station reached 12.82 meters, and Chaohu Tangxi Station reached 12.77 meters, both exceeding the highest water level in history. /p>

When I arrived at the west dam mouth at around 8 o'clock in the morning on the 19th, the lake water had reached the last step and reached the embankment. In my memory, this should be the highest water level in Chaohu Lake.

At this time, it was still more than two hours earlier than the official time.

Sandbags over 1 meter high were already built on the embankment.

Sandbags have grown taller than the Chaohu embankment, tightly trapping the water in the lake.

Citizens came to Xibakou one after another. Like me, they were all concerned about the water conditions of Chaohu Lake, while Xibakou was not. It is the closest window to understand the water conditions of Chaohu Lake.

On the east side of the dam mouth, I met an old comrade who had just come from Chaohu Gate. He told everyone emotionally: Chaohu Gate has been opened for 16 times. At the gate, the river is pouring into the lake.

Chaohu Gate has 24 gates, and 16 is already two-thirds of it.

It is still raining, and the river is still pouring in. , the water level is still rising.

After entering the first level emergency response at 3 pm yesterday, the flood fighting battle officially started, and people from all walks of life rushed to various sections of the embankment in an nervous and orderly manner.

The Xibakou section is the top priority for city defense!

This is the gateway to the urban area. If it is lost, it will be destroyed.

The embankment here is also the most vulnerable. Nearly 1 meter lower than elsewhere, it is easier to lose.

A team of party members went up. A group of young commandos went up.

The epidemic in Wuhan is like this, and so is the flood situation in Chaohu.

This is the power of China!

The professional rescue team "Aneng" settled in Chaohu immediately and set up camp at Xibakou. They brought a professional rescue team and efficient large machinery.

8 p.m. When I came to Xibakou again, I saw bright lights, large trucks transporting sand and soil coming and going, and excavators roaring to load sand into the trucks.

Xiba Road has been temporarily closed and has been placed. No vehicles other than work vehicles are allowed to enter the temporary railings.

Traffic police were on duty intensively to stop and dissuade vehicles and pedestrians trying to enter.

Outside the cordon, the scene was crowded with people who were paying close attention. Everyone was quiet and consciously obeyed the traffic police's instructions. The person riding an electric bike was stopped by the traffic policeman with his hand, and he turned the car around with a smile.

A man standing next to me looked at the large banner on the tent opposite and suddenly said: "There is something wrong with this name!"

In fact, I have already identified that banner. I noticed that it is the abbreviation of the rescue team of Aneng Group, with yellow characters on a red background: "China Aneng Rescue".

This abbreviation is indeed ambiguous literally. "An Neng" is a question word in terms of meaning, meaning "how can". An Neng was connected with the rescue, and the rescue was denied. It is better to use the full name - China Aneng Group Rescue Team, so that there will be no ambiguity.

I believe that many people at the scene will notice this name, but no one will say it because they don’t want to be unlucky. This man spoke quickly and blurted out, but he only said one sentence without further explanation. He probably realized that he could not say any more.

In fact, materialists do not pay attention to these things. Materials come first and effectiveness is greatest.

My eldest brother called me from the countryside and asked me how Chao City is doing now. He also told me that Zhegao has been flooded, and my nephew Mali’s house is half-deep in water.

He is concerned about the safety of my family in Nest City.

I told him that Chao City has tightened its grip on flood control and the urban area is now safe.

The eldest brother said, that’s good.

I asked him how the village was doing now. He said that the village was very safe and could not be flooded no matter how big the water was. I think it's right. The village is built on a hill and the terrain is high.

The eldest brother also said that Zhegao Town was flooded and it was impossible to sell vegetables.

During this season in previous years, my eldest brother would go to Zhegao Town to sell winter melons every day.

However, the eldest brother thinks that these are all trivial matters. Anyway, if you put the winter melon at home, it won’t go bad for a while.

When you zoom in, you can see that this is actually no small matter. Vegetable sellers cannot enter the city, and city residents cannot buy vegetables. This is a city under siege under flood conditions.

In the early morning of July 20th, the rain cleared and the sky cleared, and I felt refreshed.

In fact, there was only one day of such good weather, and it started to rain again that night.

But I still seized this opportunity and rode a bicycle to the Chaohu Gate. I wanted to see for myself how the river water poured back. If you walk with an umbrella on a rainy day, you can only go to Xibakou, and you have to use a bicycle to go to Chaohu Gate.

Arriving at the Chaohu Gate at 8:30, many people were already standing on both sides of the bridge watching the water.

I parked my bicycle on the sidewalk and hurried towards the lake side of Zhakou. If the river flows back, this is the exit. The exit should be seen more clearly than the entrance.

After passing through the crowd and going down a few more steps, I arrived at the ideal observation point. When I looked up, my jaw dropped: The lake was rolling in waves and rushing towards the gate.

This is not the river flooding back, but Chao Lake opening its gates to release water!

How strange. Yesterday I heard someone say that 16 openings were opened in the Chaohu Gate to divert river water into the lake. Why is it the other way around today?

Strange as it is, I am still happy in my heart. Since water is being released, there is hope for Chaohu Lake.

Immediately turn back, cross the road, step on the Yuxi River embankment, and come to the other side of Chaohu Gate.

Through the gap between the weeping willows, I saw waves of water outside the gate, surging down. Unfortunately, it is far away and the rolling waves cannot be photographed with the mobile phone.

There is a tent set up on the embankment, which is used by a certain unit for flood control duty. I turned around and went in. I saw a man and a woman sitting inside, so I asked. The woman told me that the Chaohu Gate started releasing water last night because the loudspeaker at the management office had to broadcast repeatedly before the gate opened, so she remembered it very clearly.

She also told me that the past few days had indeed been pouring water.

The water situation is changing rapidly. On the morning of the 19th, it was still flowing backwards, and at night it became a downstream flow. What happened in the meantime?

There are two situations. One is that the water level of the Yangtze River drops and the Yuxi River can flow into the river; the other is that Chaohu Lake is in emergency and the Phoenix Neck Station starts draining water.

No matter what the situation is, it is an indisputable fact that Chaohu Lake has opened its gates and released water. It shows that in this "game of chess", Chaohu Lake has not become an "abandoned pawn". Fortunately!

Although the gates have been opened to release water, the water level in Chaohu Lake is still rising because the upstream pressure has not decreased.

Passing by Xibakou on the way back, I got out of the car and took a look. I saw that behind the sand bag embankment, the lake water had overflowed the original embankment by about 2 inches. A long cordon was drawn along the weeping willows in front of the sandbag embankment, and a traffic policeman stood every ten meters.

This water level should be photographed and retained. I took out my phone, raised the cordon and got in. Before she could stand still, the little policewoman next to her screamed:

"Hey! Why did you get in?"

"I'll take a picture and leave."

"No, no, no! As soon as you come in, everyone else comes in."

That's what he said, and he came out in anger. The next best thing was to stand on a small pile of sand on the side of the road, hold up the phone high, and barely take a picture (see the picture below)

At noon the next day, the official released the latest news: < /p>

At 10:24 on July 21, the water level at Chaohu Zhongmiao Station had reached 13.36 meters. This water level is the once-in-a-century standard for flood prevention in Chaohu Lake.

It is a once-in-a-century event, which means that this year’s floods have exceeded the standards of previous floods I have seen.

Shocking!

In 1991, the embankment of Anchengwei in the east of the city broke and the flood almost submerged the urban area. At the critical moment, a worker from a nearby oil pump factory volunteered to lead the effort to block the embankment and restore it, and succeeded. I was in the Propaganda Department at the time, and I went to the scene in a small boat to interview, and I quickly wrote the report "The Emerging Commander," which was published on the front page of the Anhui Workers' Newspaper. This report later won a National Workers' Newspaper Award for Good Works.

In 1998, the levee in the middle section of Chaohu Lake burst, and tens of thousands of acres of polder fields and villages were flooded.

After learning from the experience, the Chaohu Embankment reinforcement project was put on the important agenda, and the Chaohu Embankment was eventually built into a Chaohu Sightseeing Avenue integrating transportation, sightseeing, and flood control.

Starting last year, the inside of the embankment was petrified, and a second platform was built with rocks to block the waves. This project is now initially completed, and it comes at the right time.

The foundation of the current Chaohu levee can be said to be impregnable, and floods will no longer occur. The main task of flood control is to build sandbags and raise the levee. When the water rises, the levee will also rise.

It’s still the old saying: When soldiers come to block it, water comes and soil covers it!

The water level, which has only occurred once in a century, continues to rise.

At 6:00 on July 22, the water level at Chaohu Zhongmiao Station reached 13.41 meters, 5 centimeters higher than yesterday.

At 10:48, the water level was 13.43 meters, rising another 2 centimeters.

At this time, the water level of Chaohu Lake has pressed the pause button. However, the flood fight has entered a new climax.

Many new tents have been added to Xibakou. The public security, urban management, medical, volunteers, and Lei Feng-inspired motorcades all set up camp here.

A tent is a frontline command post.

During this period, Chaohu Gate continued to release water from 16 holes, with a flow rate of 970 cubic meters/second.

At 14:00 on the 22nd, the water level began to fall. By 22:00, the water level at Zhongmiao Station was 13.40 meters, which was 3 centimeters lower than the highest water level of 13.43.

It is gratifying, but not congratulatory.

Historical experience is worth noting. If you are careless at this time, all your previous efforts may be wasted!

On the afternoon of July 23, the No. 1 provincial leader came to the Chaohu embankment to supervise and inspect, and proposed to "resolutely protect Chaohu Lake, protect the embankment, and ensure the safety of the flood."

This is a new Mobilization order!

This is also a warning to gather strength and not let up.

The front is fighting, and the rear is supporting.

Citizens continue to spontaneously send condolences to the front line of flood fighting, including milk, mineral water, and instant noodles, and move them by the box to Xibakou without leaving their names.

But they are all proud. A unit drove a tricycle to deliver condolence gifts. They parked the tricycle on the side of the road opposite the tent, and several people took turns standing in front of the condolence gifts to take photos, with happy smiles on their faces. After taking care of it, the condolence items were moved to the tent opposite (see the picture below).

The eldest grandson carried a bundle of mineral water and went to Xibakou with his classmates two days ago. The little guy was so trembling that he refused to let his grandma accompany him.

The mineral water was just sold that day, because the city's No. 3 water plant responsible for water supply was flooded the night before, resulting in a water outage, so I had to buy a few bundles of mineral water for backup. I haven't used it yet, but my grandson has used it as a condolence gift. The water supply was stopped for only half a day, and was restored at about 10 a.m. the next day.

During the war, all departments were highly efficient.

My son is still on duty on the levee. He was working the night shift yesterday. It was almost 11 o'clock when he got home. I asked him if he had had dinner. He said he had. It was a condolence meal delivered to the levee by a restaurant. , dumplings.

As he spoke, he took a plate, heated the uneaten dumplings in the microwave, brought them to me, and said, "Try them."

Normally, I would never eat at this time, but when I saw my son’s excited expression and knew that he was still proud of someone sending them a condolence meal, I cooperated with his display and ate. Got two.

Not to mention, the dumplings taste really good.