Chapter 309: Flood Prevention After a Long Drought

In 1963, the years of drought across the country finally came to an end.

Since spring came, the rain has been increasing quietly.

Once we entered July and the beginning of summer, the rain continued to fall.

The rain was still pouring down, and Grandpa's face looked particularly grim. He smoked his pipe and said in a deep voice: "After a severe drought, there will be a severe flood; after a severe flood, there will be a severe epidemic. Alas, I am afraid that this year's prospects are not optimistic."

Liu Jingzhai frowned slightly and asked in confusion: "Father, after so many years of drought, the rivers and lakes have dried up. Wouldn't it be good to have more rain?"

The old man shook his head slightly, with a helpless smile on his face, "Haha, you have a solid knowledge, but it's a pity that you are a little lacking in farming skills."

"Hehehe..." Liu Yuanhai, Liu Yuansheng, Liu Fusheng and others present all laughed when they heard this.

However, Liu Zhiye did not smile. After listening to his grandfather's words, his brows were furrowed, as if he was thinking deeply about something.

"What was the exact time? I can't remember it at all." After hearing about the possibility of a flood disaster, Liu Zhiye suddenly recalled a major flood in Beijing after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

When someone said something like that casually, he might just smile and ignore it.

However, when his grandfather mentioned the possible disaster in his unusually serious tone, Liu Zhiye immediately stopped smiling and his expression became solemn.

Liu Zhiye was well aware of his grandfather's experience and wisdom, and he dared not slack off in the slightest in the face of such a warning.

Regardless of ancient or modern times, living off the mountains and water has always been a precious treasure left to mankind by nature. Especially in the ancient agricultural civilization era, people's harvest throughout the year depended entirely on weather changes and the laws of nature.

In front of nature, human beings are just a tiny speck of dust, unable to resist its changing of the four seasons. After thousands of years of accumulation and sedimentation, people have developed a set of theories about some special phenomena in nature. There is a common saying among the people: "A long drought will inevitably lead to disasters." Regardless of whether it is superstition without basis, but in terms of many real historical materials, people cannot ignore its existence.

From ancient times to the present, what farmers have gained through observation of nature and repeated practice are often extremely accurate and still guide farmers in agricultural production.

Many of them have been confirmed by modern scientists and have certain scientific basis.

The northern region has been experiencing drought for four years now. I often hear elderly people in rural areas say that if a drought lasts for three years, just bear with it and it will stop being droughty after these three years; if a drought lasts for three years, there will be a severe flood after three years, so don't expect a good harvest in these four years; if a drought lasts for three years, there will be a severe flood after the severe drought.

"Zhiye, Zhiye!" The voice of the third uncle interrupted Liu Zhiye's meditation. He gently pushed Liu Zhiye, trying to wake him up from his deep thoughts.

Liu Zhiye asked in bewilderment, "Ah? Oh, Third Uncle, what's wrong with you?"

The third uncle frowned slightly, with a puzzled tone in his voice: "What's wrong with you? You look like you have a lot on your mind."

Liu Zhiye said, "I was thinking about what grandpa said just now. If drought lasts for a long time, there will be floods. I think it makes a lot of sense."

"Look, isn't the recent rain unusual? It's like there's a hole in the sky, it keeps raining?"

The uncle nodded slightly, with a hint of doubt between his brows: "This situation is indeed unusual, but as to whether it will cause a flood, it is hard to say. After all, how long has it been since we saw such rain?"

Liu Zhiye's expression became solemn, and he decisively expressed his opinion: "We must take this matter seriously. We are located on the banks of the Yongding River and in the mountains. If we encounter a mountain torrent, the consequences will be disastrous."

The third uncle frowned, realizing the seriousness of the problem. He nodded in agreement and said, "That's true. We have finally lived a stable life. If there is a flood, won't all our efforts be in vain?"

Brother-in-law Liu Fusheng took over the conversation at this moment, with a somewhat relaxed tone: "In fact, we don't have to worry too much. In recent years, the water conservancy facilities in our village have been comprehensively updated and renovated.

The river dams, underground drainage systems, and slope protection and forest protection work are carried out every year without interruption. With these safeguards, we should be able to withstand most natural disasters, right? "

Liu Zhiye couldn't help but sigh when he saw this scene. What he was most worried about was this scene in front of him - in the face of natural disasters, no matter how cautious you are, it is never too much. How can you be so careless?

He asserted without hesitation: "This is far from enough. We have only repaired the water conservancy facilities within the village. But what about the upstream of our village? If there is a natural disaster such as a mountain torrent or mudslide, how should we deal with it?"

Liu Fusheng was stunned: "Ah! This..." Yes, he had never thought about this; if the disaster that Liu Zhiye described really happened, the consequences would make him shudder.

"Brother, what should we do?"

Liu Zhiye smiled and said, "It's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep have been lost. We must pay attention to it from now on, so..."

Therefore, he decisively proposed that the third uncle and the village should immediately convene an emergency meeting. He stressed that the whole village must be quickly organized to jointly carry out flood prevention and control work to cope with the severe situation that may arise in the future.

Liu Yuanhai was a wise man. He knew the importance of the matter and could not afford to delay. So he quickly returned to the village committee and called an emergency meeting of the village committee cadres and production team leaders.

"Hey! Hey! Attention all members..." His voice spread throughout the village through the radio. His voice echoed in every corner, calling everyone who needed to participate in decision-making.

Starting today, Liujiazhuang is shrouded in a tense atmosphere. In addition to the workers who stick to the front line of factory production, the rest of the villagers were quickly organized and divided into several groups to patrol the river bank, monitor the upstream water flow and the situation of the mountains and forests around the clock. They shoulder the heavy responsibility of ensuring the safety of their homes.

At the same time, they also conducted a thorough inspection of dangerous buildings with safety hazards to ensure the safety of residents.

Moreover, in order to cope with possible flood disasters, they have also prepared sufficient flood-fighting materials such as mud and sand bags, and have conducted drills on how to safely evacuate people in the event of danger, in case of emergency.

Liujiazhuang is making every effort and is on high alert to prepare for possible flood disasters.

At the same time, Liu Zhiye did not relax. He quickly reported the potential threat of flood disasters to the higher authorities through reliable channels, successfully attracting the attention of relevant departments.

…………

One afternoon in late July, Liu Zhiye finished his busy work early. He felt exhausted and too lazy to go back to the village, so he went straight back to his courtyard in Nanluoguxiang.

Since Liu Jingzhai returned to the village to teach, Deng Ru has often returned to the village to live and take care of him and the old man.

If she didn't have to take care of the children, she might have followed Liu Jingzhai and returned to the quiet life in the countryside.

She didn't stay at home these two days, but took the little girl back to the village to escape the summer heat.

Therefore, Liu Zhiye did not go to the East Cross Courtyard, but went straight back to his home in the front yard.

As the afterglow of the setting sun gradually disappeared over the horizon, neighbors came out of their homes and went to their front yards to seek some cool air.

This year, Liu Zhiye specially arranged for someone to build a sunshade, making this place the coolest summer resort in the entire institute.

Since the beginning of the dog days of summer, the capital city has been extremely hot, and the continuous rainfall in recent times has not been able to cool down the city.

It's so hot today, and for ordinary people, it's hard to find air conditioners or fans to cool down and escape the heat.

So how do the residents of the courtyards keep cool? In short, it is to use cold cloth windows, bamboo curtains to reflect the sun, ice buckets to cool down, and canopies to shade the house. Add to that the sound of ice cups, the chirping of cicadas, the first nap of the afternoon, and the leisurely mood. This is a song of summer.

Let’s first talk about pasting cold cloth on the windows. Regardless of whether it is a large or small courtyard, or whether the family is rich or poor, this is the most basic measure to cool down.

Cold cloth is called cloth but it is not cloth, not yarn but looks like yarn. It is a kind of window cloth woven by wooden looms in counties south of Beijing. It is made of single strands of fine earth yarn, woven into a gauze cloth with a hole spacing of about two or three millimeters, then coated with green or natural color starch, and ironed flat after drying. It is very smooth and is used as window screen to paste windows. It has more than twice the holes of Western iron wire yarn and plastic nylon yarn in recent years, so it is extremely breathable and refreshing.

The windows of the old courtyard houses are all made of wood. The most exquisite ones have three layers. The outermost is the window guard, which is a wooden board that can be removed and installed to block the cold wind and dust in winter and spring. However, most courtyards do not have it.

The second is the window with staggered vertical rectangles, which can be propped up or hung up in summer. The third is the large square window, which is used to paste cold cloth and roll up the window in summer, commonly known as "gauze drawer". After the summer comes, hang up the outside or inside window, tear off the old paper and gauze on the gauze drawer, paste new green cold cloth, and new roll up window made of snow-white Dongchang paper, not only the house becomes bright, but also the air is unobstructed, the breeze is gentle, and it is refreshing and pleasant.

Recently, there has been a lot of rain in the capital during the dog days of summer, and most of them are thunderstorms. In the afternoon, wind and thunder started in the northwest sky, and suddenly dark clouds rolled in.

A heavy rain came, making the tiles on the roof rattle and splashing water in the yard... But after a while, the rain stopped and the sky cleared up. The accumulated water in the yard quickly flowed away from the gutter, and light dragonflies were flying all over the yard. Drops of water were still dripping from the eaves, and above the ridge of the east house there was a blue sky with a beautiful rainbow hanging.

It had just finished raining and the house was getting hot and humid again, so the neighbors who were at home all ran to the front yard.

Liu Zhiye walked in through the water in the yard and happened to see the third uncle Yan Bugui leading a few children, busy cleaning the fallen leaves in the gutter and clearing the water.

"Hey! Uncle, you're busy!"

Yan Bugui raised his head and saw that it was Liu Zhiye who came back. He smiled and said, "Captain Liu, you're back?"

A few months ago, Liu Zhiye was successfully promoted from acting detachment commander to official detachment commander, officially entering the ranks of deputy-department-level cadres, and his status and position have been raised to a higher level.

Although the deputy department level is still not considered a high-ranking cadre and still belongs to the category of middle-level cadres, it can be considered a middle-to-senior level cadre.

From then on, gradually, people around him began to call him "Captain Liu", which was not only a respect for his position, but also a recognition of his ability.

Liu Zhiye smiled and nodded, "I'm back. I don't have anything to do today. I'll go home early and check the things in the house to make sure they don't get moldy!"

"Wow, that wave of rain just now was so heavy! In just a short while, the yard has become a river!"

Yan Bugui frowned and said, "That's right. The weather has been raining lately. Our yard is knee-deep in water every day."

"That's still good. I heard that some old houses in some courtyards have collapsed. The water couldn't be drained out in time and is almost flooding the kang!"

"Oh! Damn it, it's been either drought or flood in recent years..."

"Ah!" Liu Zhiye suddenly exclaimed, and some important memories flashed through his mind. It was about the severe flood disaster that occurred in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region this year, which was hailed as a flood that would not be seen in a century.

Later, Liu Zhiye accidentally saw a documentary about floods on some media platforms.

Because he was from Dongshan, and the event happened a long time ago, he did not pay much attention to it at the time, so he did not immediately think of the disaster now.

Now, after a few words from the third uncle, he gradually recovered some of his memories.

It was early August 63. Heavy rains lasted for more than ten days in Bac Ho Province. The three major river systems in the Haihe River Basin received a total rainfall of nearly 8 billion cubic meters, exceeding the maximum rainfall record in the Haihe River Basin. The total runoff was more than billion cubic meters, which was the largest flood in Bac Ho Province since hydrological records began.

The characteristics of this rainstorm are that it lasts for a long time and is concentrated, causing sharp floods in the Zhangwei, Ziya and Daqing river systems. Although stored by mountain reservoirs, the peak flow that overflows the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and enters the vast plains still reaches 78000 cubic meters per second, far exceeding the flood-carrying capacity of various bridges, culverts and rivers.

The main river channels broke through at more than 2,000 locations, and the tributaries broke through at more than 4,000 locations. The floods were turbulent and rushed thousands of miles away. Large cities and towns were suddenly turned into swamps, and transportation between the north and the south was cut off.

More than 32 counties and cities in the province suffered from floods, including 33 county towns that were flooded and that were surrounded by water.

The water depth in Baoding, Xingtai and Handan was 2 to 3 meters, flooding more than million mu of farmland, destroying more than million houses and affecting more than million people.

More than 80% of the industries in the four cities of Handan, Xingtai, Shijiazhuang and Baoding were shut down at one point.

More than 32 sections of the Beijing-Guangzhou, Shijiazhuang-Dezhou, Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan railways were destroyed. In some sections of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, the rails were twisted into a knot shape. 90 bridges were broken, more than kilometers of roads were destroyed, hundreds of small reservoirs and more than % of the plain water conservancy projects were destroyed.

The flood caused direct economic losses of nearly 6 billion yuan and indirect losses of more than 1 billion yuan to the Beihe region.

The capital city was also affected by the flood. It rained heavily for more than ten days in a row, and ditches and potholes were everywhere. Soon, some streets in some villages began to be flooded.

As the incident happened suddenly, no one had time to evacuate and could only take shelter in houses on higher ground in the heavy rain. The men in the village also retreated when they saw that they could not stop the water flow at the entrance of the village.

These days, all the houses in the countryside are made of earth, and it didn’t take long for the rat holes in the walls to start leaking water.

Seeing this, the villagers were worried that their houses would collapse, and without caring about the lightning and thunder outside, they all evacuated their houses.

Someone found a big thick rope and asked everyone to hold on to it tightly to avoid being washed away by the flood.

The flood quickly rushed into the yard and rushed towards the crowd shivering in the heavy rain.

It was below the knees, below the thighs, and soon it was waist-deep…

Liu Zhiye gradually remembered that this severe flood disaster originated from a rainstorm that occurred once in a century.

Starting from August 8, some areas of Hebei Province saw rainfall. The next day, heavy rain began to fall in the mountainous areas in western Hebei Province. The heavy rain gradually stopped until the evening of August 1, which lasted for seven consecutive days and nights.
"So, it happened in the last one or two days... What should I do..." Liu Zhiye became anxious when he thought of this.

He could not stand his own indifference, and could not watch the disaster approaching without doing anything. He knew that self-protection was important, but when disaster struck, one should stand up and face it bravely.

"I have to think of a way. How can I avoid exposing myself completely and at the same time alert the relevant departments..." He began to think about it.

Liu Zhiye had no appetite, but he pondered until midnight and still couldn't come up with a solution that would satisfy both parties.

Finally, he made up his mind and wrote a heavy "ten thousand words letter" with his left hand. In the dead of night, he risked his life to put it into the mailbox of the relevant departments, hoping to attract their attention and reduce the losses caused by the disaster.

One day later, in a certain hospital.

"Xiao Zhuo, how is the investigation going?" The leader rubbed his tired brows.

"Chief, judging from the handwriting of this report, the writer obviously wrote it with his left hand. This person is intentionally hiding his identity..." Zhuo Yingjie responded respectfully.

The leader nodded slightly, his eyes revealing deep concern, and then he asked: "Regarding the contents of the envelope, how authentic and reliable is it? What do meteorological experts think about it? Have they given any clear conclusions or suggestions?"

Zhuo Yingjie hesitated for a moment and said cautiously: "There is a lot of controversy at present. Some comrades say this is nonsense, while others believe that the report is very accurate and suggest that a prevention and control plan be arranged immediately..."

The leader showed a surprised expression. He took a deep breath and said slowly: "Oh! It seems that there is no wind without waves. This is not groundless. Even meteorological experts agree with this, so we can't be careless..." His words revealed a deep worry.

"Let's go to the Ministry of Water Resources right away..."

After the leader got on the bus, he had a question in his mind: "Who is this person? Why is he reminding the country in a subtle way... Isn't he our comrade..."

Just one day later, the State of Xia quickly launched a comprehensive and powerful flood prevention and relief operation.

With the close cooperation and efficient organization of departments at all levels, this operation was fully launched in Bac Ha Province and the Beijing-Tianjin area. Whether in bustling cities or quiet villages, soldiers, militiamen, cadres, workers, students, farmers, men, women and children all joined in this battle.

They worked swiftly to clear blocked rivers, clean up sewers and drains, and evacuate residents from dangerous areas to safe areas.

……

Liu Zhiye looked at the scene in front of him with great satisfaction. His efforts were not in vain... Even if the disaster is still there, with this preparation, the losses will be greatly reduced.

(End of this chapter)