Emergency workers and armed forces troops are working around the clock in racing against time to close and block a disastrous breach which occurred Friday on the Dongting Lake in central China's Hunan Province after days of torrential rains.
At 17:48 on Friday, a Dongting Lake dike burst in Tuanzhou Township, Huarong County, administered by the city of Yueyang in Hunan Province, causing flooding in the low-lying areas in the vicinity. The breach was initially about 10 meters wide but later expanded to more than 200 meters.
Since late Friday, emergency workers and armed forces troops have been working to fortify a 14.3-kilometer-long embankment just two kilometers away from the scene of the dike breach, which is viewed as the "second line of defense."
Following the emergency evacuation of more than 7,000 residents from the affected areas, urgent measures were taken to repair the dike.
As of 10:00 on Monday, 142 meters of the 226-meter breach on the dike had been sealed, and the entire work is expected to be completed by noon time on Tuesday, according to the Yueyang flood control and drought relief headquarters.
The emergency work has been carried out overnight.
"At present, we are busy working to fortify the embankment in an orderly manner, with two shifts working in turns. The night shift, besides the engineering work on site, has to watch for safety on the embankment and vehicle transport safety, so as to ensure non-stop transportation and supply of construction materials," said Tang Hongjun, an on-site emergency operation commander with the China Anneng Construction Group.
In order to speed up the sealing work, a large number of vessels on water, as well as the vehicles on land, have been mobilized to fill earth and stones into the breach at the same time.
"Over there is a vessel working for dumping blocking materials into the water at a designated position. Carrying an excavator and building stones, the vessel is berthing in front of the breach, where the excavator dumps stones into the water at a fixed point. We are striving to block the breach with the shortest possible time at the fastest speed," said Sun Qingjie, chief of the emergency response department of a regional branch of China Anneng Construction Group.
In addition to vessels in busy operation at the scene of the breach, there is also a small unmanned ship on water to detect the underwater terrain.
Meanwhile, professional equipment such as GPS measuring instruments and radar current meters are also used at the site to monitor changes in water level and flow velocity at the breach, which provides an important basis for organizing the emergency operation efficiently and in an orderly manner.
All of the 7,680 affected people have been evacuated and properly resettled after the breach, Hunan flood control and drought relief headquarters said at a press briefing on Sunday afternoon.
At present, Huarong County has set up four evacuation and resettlement sites, and a total of 3,224 affected residents have been transferred and resettled there.
The Dongting Lake is the second largest freshwater lake in China, stretching between Hunan and neighboring Hubei.
Emergency work underway to close dike breach on China's second-largest freshwater lake
Emergency work underway to close dike breach on China's second-largest freshwater lake
