Rescue operations are in full swing on Saturday after a dike breach in central China's Hunan Province on Friday afternoon.
A dike of the Dongting Lake burst in Tuanzhou Township, Yueyang City's Huarong County Friday afternoon, causing flooding in the area. All the local people affected have been safely evacuated.
Rescue forces have been working tirelessly, using heavy machinery to place stones along both ends of the dike to seal the gap. The work was still in progress as of 18:00 on Saturday.
"We are using a combination of bidirectional blocking and stone dumping by ships to close the breach. This is a massive task, requiring about 100,000 cubic meters of materials to seal and restore the dike. We will resolutely follow the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and make every effort to carry out rescue operations to effectively protect the lives and property of the people," said Ji Zhigang, director of the Water Resources Bureau of Huarong County.
A total of 5,755 affected residents have been evacuated in the first time by more than 2,300 rescuers. The residents received 5,000 family emergency kits from the disaster relief, emergency management, and material reserve authorities, and have been transfered to resettlement sites equipped with essential supplies.
"We have food and drink here, such as eight-ingredient porridge, egg cakes, and mineral water. We arrived at the resettlement point at 5:00 in the morning," said an evacuated resident named Bai Yunlan.
Local authorities have also deployed more than 3,000 personnel to reinforce a dike about nine kilometers away from the broken one.
The Ministry of Water Resources has dispatched an expert team to help managing the crisis, and held a flood prevention meeting on Saturday to analyze current situation.
Rescue operations, relief efforts in full swing after Dongting dike breach
