PLA and armed police fight against floods ( 2003-07-10 10:28) (PLA Daily) On July 6, due to consecutive rainstorm in the
upper and middle reaches of the Huaihe River, the water level of lower reaches
of the Huaihe River under Zhengyangguan, trunk stream of the Yangtze River, the
Taihu Lake, the Qinhuai River, Chuhe River and Lixia River rose continuously.
The officers and men of the Nanjing Military Area Command fought at the
flood-fighting front line.
It is learned that the Nanjing Military Area Command has sent more than 5,600
servicemen and over 100 thousands militiamen and reservists, 68 speedboats and
171 vehicles to the front line of flood fighting within 3 days. Under the
command of the deputy commander of the group army Wang Jiamu, 4 engineer
companies of a group army executed the dyke-blasting mission at the Tangduo Lake
Floodwater Store Area in Yingshang County, Anhui Province. It is said that the
flood discharge area could hold 450 million cubic meters of water and the
blasting could relieve the pressure of the trunk stream of the Huaihe River
greatly. Meanwhile, the group army sent an engineer battalion urgently to rush
more than 300 kilometers to Xiaoyi, Huaiyuan County,Anhui Province, at 21:00
o'clock Sunday night to carry out the task of Jingshan Lake blasting and flood
discharge to ensure the safety of Bengbu City and Tianjin-Shanghai Railway.
Today the Nanjing Military Area Command dispatched another 300 men to Linhuai
Township, Anhui Province to reinforce the dyke and transfer the troubled people.
For days, a pontoon-bridge regiment of Nanjing Military Area Command has
fulfilled 5 dangerous and important tasks in the battle of fighting flood in the
Huaihe River area. At 16:00 o'clock on Sunday, the regiment has sent 800 men to
the dangerous reaches of the Huaihe River along Bengbu, Guzhen, Huaiyuan and
Wuhe of Anhui Province to block leakage, strengthen the dykes and rescue the
victims of the flood.
On July 2, a 330 tons heavy steel pier cofferdam of the Jingtu Huaihe Bridge
which was under construction had been lifted and overturned by the flood in the
upper reaches of the Huaihe river, which greatly endangered the safety of the
Bengbu sluice gate and the Huaihe Bridge at the lower reaches. Zhou Tingjie,
commander of the pontoon-bridge regiment, headed emergency rescue units rushing
to the spot and fought for more than 6 hours in the flood to stable the steel
pier cofferdam firmly 200 meters away from the Bengbu sluice gate. On July 4,
political commissar Qin Shutong and deputy commander Li Wenlin of the regiment
headed more than 100 servicemen and spent 11 hours to rescue and transfer 1300
people in Songjiatan at the Western District of Bengbu City.
For days, some regions of Anhui Province have undergone heavy rainstorm and
the flood situations along the Huaihe River and Chuhe River were becoming
critical . On July 5, the rocketing water level of the Qingliu River led to
collapse of some dykes of the river which endangered the safety of more than
3000 houses of villagers', near 100 thousand mu farmlands and Chuzhou City. The
fifth detachment of Anhui contingent of the Armed Police Force rushed to the
Qingliu River under orders and established a solidity defense line on the
dangerous dykes to ensure the safety of the people and the asset of the state.
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