Of all the human defenses seen by the super typhoon "Lichima", these are undoubtedly relatively shabby.
The outermost layer is billboards and table tennis tables, with wooden boards for decoration in the middle. The sandbags that play the main defensive role are colorful, even with quilts and down jackets in the middle. In the 80-year flood in Linhai, Zhejiang, it was this line of defense that played a role.
The flood rushed into the gate of the old city with a history of more than 1600 years in Linhai, Zhejiang Province, and rushed into the residents’ homes on the first floor. It didn’t cross the Wangjiangmen Bridge in this county-level city, but it stopped outside the underground garage door of this ordinary community.
Shuilinchengxia
For the coastal people who are used to typhoons, although "Lichima" is coming, they have long been accustomed to the strong winds and heavy rains brought by typhoons.
Shangcheng Community by the Lake is the largest water system adjacent to Taizhou — — As one of the many residential areas in Lingjiang, the internal terrain is high, and the whole underground area of the residential area is a garage. It is easy to get into the water by three underground garage entrances at the north gate, the east gate and the south gate and a fire emergency passage.
As early as two days before "Lichima" landed, the property company received a typhoon warning from the Municipal Flood Control Office. When Chen Haigang, the property manager, and members of the owners’ committee patrol, their concern is to supervise the high-rise residents to move the flowerpots outside the balcony into their homes, so as to prevent the flowerpots from being blown off by strong winds and causing falling objects.
The rainstorm started on the evening of August 9. On August 10th, it rained all day. Chen Haigang, who patrolled at night, remembers that at about 5: 30 on the morning of the 10th, the depth of accumulated water on the ground was about 30cm. He lowered the 80 cm flood gate at the entrance of the garage.
This morning, Qu Wenming, the 61-year-old deputy director of the Industry Committee, supervised the property company to place about 100 sandbags, and moved six spare pumps to the entrance of the underground garage. In normal times, this set of equipment, together with 38 fixed pumps in the underground garage, is enough to resist 50 cm deep ground water. However, they did not expect that the height of the rising water level would exceed three times the expected level.
Facts have proved that people underestimated "Lichima". According to the impact assessment report of China Meteorological Bureau after the event, among the typhoons that landed in Chinese mainland since 1949, Lichima ranked fifth in intensity. It stayed in Zhejiang for 20 hours, the longest super typhoon in this coastal province since 1949. The typhoon has successively affected 12 provincial administrative regions from Fujian, journey to the south, Zhejiang to Heilongjiang.
According to the monitoring and analysis of Zhejiang Hydrological Management Center, on August 10th, supported by the upstream inflow and the downstream high tide level, Linhai City formed the most unfavorable situation of "flood and tide meeting", and Lingjiang River broke out once in 80 years. By 5: 00 pm on the 10th, the water level outside the city gate had risen to 2m, "a piece of Wang Yang in the ancient city".
In Shangcheng by the lake, Qu Wenming, Zheng Zuming and Luo Guoding, members of the industry committee, were the earliest organizers of residents’ spontaneous flood fighting. Recalling the scenes of those days, Qu Wenming has a lingering fear.
At about 6: 30 a.m. on the 10th, Qu Wenming, who was patrolling the underground garage, saw that the accumulated water had risen rapidly and had almost overflowed the flood gate at the garage door. If it rises again, it may pour down the inclined lane and be unimpeded. He knew that all the power supply rooms, equipment rooms and hundreds of cars were in the underground garage, and 37 elevators also went directly to the garage, which made him feel a little flustered. "If we can block it, it will be safe."
Their first thought is that there are several villas being renovated in the community, and the sand and blockboard can be used for emergency. "Afterwards, the industry Committee will pay them back."
Qu Wenming, a civil engineer, thought that when the garage was built, six light wells were opened for lighting, each covered with more than 60 square meters of glass, and under these glasses, corresponding flower beds were laid in the garage. There is more than 1 meter deep soil in the flower bed, which can be used to make flood control bags, but he feels puzzled about what to use to fill the soil.
There are 1,174 households in the community, with more than 900 permanent residents. He predicted that as long as "one household sends two woven bags on average, we can get 1,800 woven bags". They sent text messages to all the residents for help. Within half an hour, they received about 700 woven bags — — Someone sent more than 40 bags, and some families sent large and small rice bags and food bags. Several people called on familiar neighbors, gathered twenty or thirty people and started fighting floods.
In the crackling rain above the glass, a group of people gradually gathered around the flower bed. At first, there were not many active participants, but more onlookers. Li Junchao, who lives near the north gate of the residential area, remembers that around 12 noon, he watched the water on the street outside getting bigger and bigger, and the road "changed from a stream to a mud river", and the water level never reached the window. He went downstairs to the garage to check whether his car was safe.
Li Junchao usually goes to work in Hangzhou and goes home on weekends. He usually takes the elevator from the underground garage to his home. "There are not many people in this community."
When passing by the flower bed, he saw a familiar neighbor digging from the flower bed, and several people were waiting to carry it. Looking at the 50-year-old brother waving a shovel, his legs trembled a little. "I just want to help him." Recalling the reason why he joined, Li Junchao smiled a little sheepishly.
He used to help open the bag to fill the soil, and later he took over the shovel. As a result, he worked until 9 o’clock in the evening, and didn’t go home to rest until he couldn’t swing the shovel anymore. Blood bubbles have worn out in the jaws of his hands. When he left, someone else was on top.
In his impression, there was no obvious organization and scheduling in the whole process, and everyone relied on consciousness. Some people dig the earth, some people fill the earth, some people use tricycles and battery cars to transport the simple sandbags to the garage entrance, where others are responsible for stacking sandbags into dams.
"The water flooded step by step, and we blocked it step by step." Qu Wenming said.
Min Wei (pseudonym), a resident, parked his car on the street side of a high-lying residential area the night before. At noon on the 10th, he watched the flood crossing the street, drowning the car door and dashboard a little until it approached the roof, and secretly complained.
He is a teacher in a nearby high school. He wants to go downstairs to see the water situation and go home. At this time, at the entrance of the garage, people have built a dam about 1.2 meters high, and the water level outside is still rising slowly. Water also seeped into the dam, some of which was pumped away by the pump at the exit, and the rest was poured into the drainage ditch along the slope. The ground was still dry in the flower bed area deep in the garage.
"I didn’t want to do it, my car was flooded." He said frankly. However, he saw that two students were helping to pack sandbags. "I’m a teacher, and I’m sorry," so he joined the team.
Another resident, Han Weijun, joined the camp at 7 pm. Some sandbags are made of large fertilizer bags, which weigh 80 to 90 kilograms and are filled with soil. People with great strength can lift them to their shoulders with one hand. At the age of 50, he needs to lift them with others. "I have only seen this on TV before, and they are all other people’s stories. I didn’t expect it to appear on me one day."
More than 100 people dare not go first.
On August 10, around 2 pm, the water potential gradually increased, and the team of berms grew stronger and stronger. There was a little commotion at the garage exit.
Zheng Juming, a lawyer who joined the team in the morning, recalled that around 11 o’clock, because of the increasing rain, the property personnel advised the owners to park their cars on the road to prevent flooding. "Some people who work also ran to move the car, which messed up the matter."
At that time, the dam was not completely built, so it had to be temporarily removed to make way for the car. Another serious problem is that cars are leaving one after another, and some car owners can’t find parking spaces for the time being, so they park their cars on the slope at the entrance of the passage, blocking the road for transporting sandbags. The water poured in along the gap in the chaos, and people were anxious to find the owner to move the car, but at this time, the line was busy by calling the "114" telephone number information desk.
Luo Guoding, who was born in engineering, used his quick wits and remembered the trash can in the community. A row of newly bought trash cans is still piled up in the underground warehouse. At this time, it is a 500 kg "jack" filled with water, which can just clamp the joinery board in the middle, so it should be urgent at the moment.
On the other hand, people took photos of the license plates of these vehicles with their mobile phones and posted them in the owner’s WeChat group, constantly shouting "Please park the car back in the underground garage".
After two hours of tossing, the traffic blocking the road slowly stopped back to the garage. At this time, the water outside the door has risen to the waist of an adult, but there is no intention of stopping.
The soil is no better than gravel, and this homemade sandbag is not strong enough. In order to reinforce, they also called on everyone to cover sandbags with quilts and clothes in the owner’s WeChat group. Someone even sent five brand-new down jacket liners and put them on it.
Zheng Zuming saw that there were white-haired old gentlemen in the crowd and college students who went home during the summer vacation. In some families, the husband is digging, and the wife goes to pedal the tricycle and drive the battery car; Some people steamed buns, boiled mung bean soup and soaked instant noodles, and sent water to the property security guards who had no place to eat after a day’s work. People who come back and forth to help, according to their estimate, "there are three or five hundred."
"The south gate is in an emergency", "The north gate needs to be reinforced" and "The east gate is about to fall", and someone is holding a loud horn at the scene to prompt. From time to time, the WeChat group also jumped out of the message calling for help, saying that "everyone is responsible for the safety of the community".
By around 7 pm, the rain had basically stopped, but the accumulated water rose to about 1.5 meters. Qu Wenming heard that the flood peak was coming. Almost all the materials they could think of were used up, so they didn’t care much. They removed the 2-meter-long billboard on the roadside of the community and the table tennis table in the activity room, and seven or eight young and middle-aged people started to carry it to the outermost part of the dam as a line of defense.
At this time, the amount of soil is still sufficient, but the woven bag is not enough. Qu Wenming, who helped transport sandbags at the exit, received a message that in the waterworks about two kilometers away from the community, the local emergency office had prepared 700 woven bags and needed to pick them up. The problem is that there is already a "Wang Yang" outside.
Jin Xianqiang, a 30-year-old boy who moved sandbags all afternoon, planned to go home for dinner. When passing by the north gate, he saw an owner take out his kayak and was discussing with someone who would paddle. Originally, a woman who could swim went with a man. He thought that the woman "might be weak", so he volunteered to go up without rowing a canoe.
Afterwards, he told reporters that he was familiar with the road conditions and was not afraid of capsizing, but he was afraid of leakage in the water. The two oars of a single boat were divided among two people to paddle, which made them uncomfortable for a while. Usually, it took them two hours to go back and forth in a 10-minute journey. On the way back, they also picked up a little girl waving for help on the roadside.
Glad you came, a temporary kayak group, chatted with the neighbor while rowing, only to find that their daughter was already a good friend, but the two fathers didn’t know each other.
When the woven bag was sent to the community, Jin Xianqiang’s leg was cramped because he kept bending for too long. He went home and rested for two hours. At 11 o’clock in the evening, he saw people calling in the WeChat group again. "Because of a shift change, there are not enough people downstairs." He went downstairs again.
The most urgent situation appears around 11 pm. At this time, more than 100 cubic meters of earthwork has been dug in the flower bed, and the reinforced dams have reached 2 meters high and 1.5 meters thick.
But at this time, there was news that the water pump was damaged and stopped pumping. This is one of the four water-prone areas in the community. Han Weijun recalled that "the water flowed down the steps like a waterfall in the mountains", and Kochie accumulated 30 centimeters of water.
People can only use sandbags to block it, and more than 700 woven bags shipped back by boat come in handy. In order to block the gap here, Qu Wenming took the lead in rushing up. "Others are afraid of electricity leakage, so I will go first." Luo Guoding called his son and son-in-law.
At 1 o’clock the next day, the residential property received a notice from the superior, calling on the residents who were fighting floods to evacuate the scene. In fact, the request for evacuation was issued as early as midnight. "I am afraid that the water will rush in, I can’t stop it, and I will rush people." Property manager Chen Haigang said. But at that time, more than 100 people present were afraid to go first. "As long as a gap falls, the whole army will be wiped out." Zheng Juming said.
Han Weijun gave the mobile phone to his son for safekeeping and told him to stand away. "Once something happens, you should run quickly.". When the water level stopped rising, the water level line was only 60 cm away from the highest point of the dam they built. He still remembered that he was a little scared: "If the water really couldn’t be blocked at that time, I could swim and run, and the people who dug below couldn’t run away."
Zheng Juming said frankly, "If this happens for the second time, it will be a little scary to ask us to go."
At 2: 30 am on the 11th, the water level gradually stabilized. Four or five people were on duty at each entrance, and some people even stayed until 6: 30 in the morning.
According to Qu Wenming’s final statistics, they shared about 3,000 flood control sandbags, of which almost 2,000 were provided by residents in the community.
"Without the efforts of the industry Committee and the owners, 100% can’t stop it." Chen Haigang, the property manager, said that his feet were soaked in water for too long and red spots appeared. On this day, he only ate a bowl of instant noodles and a cup of pickled rice sent by the owner. His own home was in another community, and the flood flooded the first floor. His wife took the children and hid on the second floor before she escaped.
They still don’t know each other’s names.
On August 16th, the typhoon has gone far, and a week has passed since the flood. Neighbors who enjoy the cool in the community get together and discuss this topic.
Li Junchao is proud. A few days ago, relatives in the neighborhood next door borrowed his house. Because their underground garage was flooded, the whole community was cut off from water and electricity. The neighborhood next door also tried to save itself, but because of the low terrain, few people and urgent water, and the complicated transportation road, it gave up after a few times.
In Linhai, 183 houses collapsed and 177,000 households lost power. A total of two trees and two light bulbs fell in Shangcheng Community by the lake. However, Qu Wenming estimated that the loss may still be about 200,000 yuan, and the monitoring room facing the street still entered the water. Counting these, he showed a worried expression, which required the industry Committee to pay for maintenance.
After the flood, several members of the industry Committee discussed and wrote a letter of commendation to the owners and posted it in a conspicuous position in the community. Because they didn’t know the names of most people, they were all called "unsung heroes". The letter named these people’s fighting spirit "lakeside spirit".
After the flood, they met each other on the road and nodded and said hello, "feeling more cohesive."
Zheng Zuming, deputy director of the Industry Committee, said with emotion: "When I was a child, I lived in that big yard, and I knew everyone by pushing anyone’s door in. Now I live in a building, and people in front and behind don’t know it at all. It’s nothing ‘ Nostalgia ’ ‘ Affection ’ The concept. "
Even after this battle, many neighbors involved in the operation still don’t know each other’s names and contact information.
Some of the owners who participated in the action criticized the property company for "only letting everyone evacuate later, regardless of the underground garage." Another participant told reporters that he didn’t know who organized the flood fighting was a member of the industry committee. In this regard, Zheng Zuming is used to it. "The industry Committee and the village Committee are completely two concepts. We have no power and no salary. They are all compulsory."
He admits that he is also a member of the industry Committee. In 2014, when the retired teacher was elected to the newly established industry committee by several colleagues, he had never met the property manager at that time, and the other six industry committee members were all relatives of property company personnel. There are many problems in the neighborhood next door because the property is irresponsible. "I thought at that time, since I live here, I still hope that the community will be better and live comfortably."
There are 41 building directors elected at the same time as the industry Committee. The first thing they did after taking office was to vote to change the property company. They also rented out the public houses in the community, so that they could "have money to do things". Then they repaired the access control and monitoring, and made the parking spaces on the ground, sidewalks and underground garages "three closed" to restore the orderly appearance of the community.
In this community, once important matters need to be decided, the industry Committee will gather the building leaders for a meeting. According to Zheng Zuming, even if the building manager is absent from three meetings, he will be "automatically eliminated". If he can’t attend the meeting, he will have to ask for leave two hours in advance and treat him three minutes late — — A large bowl of noodles will do, please.
Han Weijun believes that the owners of this community "have good quality and strong civic awareness". The industry Committee also "did a good job". When some residents see signs of building illegal buildings, they will come to the door to negotiate. He still remembers that a few years ago, a security guard was beaten by an owner in the community. Zheng Zuming wrote an article. Some owners set up a discussion group specifically for security guards, and later they got justice for the security guards who were beaten.
In spite of this, Zheng Zu said that many residents still don’t pay attention to the "Financial Statement of the Industry Committee" posted at the entrance of the community. The owner’s WeChat group has too many people to join, "what kind of voices are there", and many important news can’t be communicated in time, which also makes them puzzled. In some buildings, there are many renters, and the landlord has not lived at home for a long time, which is not timely to reflect the problem. After this flood fighting experience, he comforted himself: "At least there are so many people who can work hard together."
The good trend is that after the flood, the enthusiasm of the owners to participate in the discussion is even stronger: some owners suggested in the WeChat group that "there will be a big speaker in the community in the future, and once there is a typhoon, it can be notified in place"; Some people suggest that "the sand in the sandbag should not be wasted, and it should be returned to the original flower bed. If there is insufficient loss, buy some sand to plant flowers and plants again." Han Weijun, who rarely speaks in peacetime, also said half jokingly: "It is better to keep a low profile. This time, the flood was forced back. If you don’t do it well next time, people will laugh to death. The key is to make the infrastructure better. "
What most residents don’t know is that on the evening of 13th, just after the typhoon, the industry committee and the property management held a meeting with the landlord. Apart from dealing with the soil in the flower beds and contacting Taizhou Water Resources and Hydropower Bureau to order flood gates that can withstand stronger floods, they also have other things to worry about, including preparing for the Mid-Autumn Festival activities and replacing the access control of the underground garage with a more advanced license plate recognition system.
There are also things that make Zheng Zuming laugh and cry. The day after the flood receded, they supervised the security guard to clear a driveway at the garage door so that vehicles could pass smoothly. When a car pulled out, the owner of a suit and tie rolled down the window and asked him puzzled, "What happened yesterday?" Where did so many sandbags move? " (China Youth Daily China Youth Network reporter Jiangshan)