Rain or Shine,We Stand Together

El Nino is the culprit of climatic chaos in 2016 which has inflicted continuous heavy rainfall on South China since April. The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are on high alert due to deluges that have affected 49 million people in 10 provinces， 222 of whom are dead or missing.

To fight floods， governments at all levels in China have established command centers to clarify their respective responsibilities. In emergent situations， governments strengthen monitoring and forecasting and give timely public warnings that enable the public to prevent and escape from floods. They also organize professionals to check and remove potential safety hazards. When floods ebb， the government assembles rescue forces including the PLA and medical workers.

By July 13 this year， four million people from five provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River had held fast to the frontlines of the main river dikes. Among them were 3.7 million ordinary people， 200，000 government functionaries and about 100，000 army officers and soldiers. Thanks to them， 2.89 million victims from danger zones were immediately transferred to safe areas and 870，000 of those trapped by floods were rescued， so effectively preventing more casualties.

Preventive measures have considerably lowered the extent of damage. Since 1998， the Chinese government has increased water conservancy investments to improve the quality of big river dikes. The embankment along 34，000 km trunk streams of the Yangtze River has moreover been consolidated and thickened. In the past， no reservoir was ever used for Yangtze River flood control， but now 21 have been built on its upper reaches. They could potentially retain 36.3 billion cubic meters of floods and largely reduce flood prevention pressure on the middle and lower reaches.

Moreover， with the support of modern information systems， the accuracy of weather forecasts could reach 99 percent， so providing a flood prevention and management “super brain” that enables decisive measures to combat floods at critical moments.

Foresight could thus relieve immediate worries， which is exactly why ecological restoration has been conducted on rivers and lakes that harbor hidden dangers. In South China， where networks of waterways are densely distributed， it is the medium-sized and small rivers and small reservoirs in hilly areas that bear the brunt of heavy rainfall. The main reason is that facilities in these places are dilapidated； the second is that excessive lake marsh reclamation lowers their flood storage capacity.

The Liangzi Lake is the second largest lake in Hubei Province. Due to years of relentless reclamation， however， its volume had been significantly reduced， with land fills segmenting the water body into several smaller ones. Following continued cloudbursts in the region in July， the government of Hubei Province decided to merge different parts of the lake into an integrated whole， restore the changed water areas and repair the defunct flood regulating function. In order to maintain permanent safety， projects like restoring paddy fields and fishponds to lakes will be launched to strengthen construction of channels between local lakes and the Yangtze River. Flood prevention and drainage capacity will thus be improved by a thorough ecological repair.

Improving the abilities of urban drainage networks and rivers remains a key aspect of flood prevention. China has set up new criteria in this respect， and numerous projects accordingly need to be renovated. At present， these tasks， although arduous， are progressing in an orderly fashion.

Mountain torrents are likely in South China after heavy rainfall in mountainous areas. A torrent grows so rapidly that an effective early warning system is needed to alert the general public without delay. Mountain torrent monitoring and warning systems have so far been set up in 2，058 counties across the country. They cover totally 970，000 square kilometers and 130 million people. This year in the flood season， there were 17，000 early warnings， 39，600 warning broadcasts， and 1.04 million people were evacuated.

Although heavy rainfall persists， post-flood rebuilding has begun and production resumed. On July 11， the government allocated RMB 800 million to post-flood restoration of water conservancy facilities and resumption of agricultural production. RMB 560 million was also allocated to helping floodafflicted people.