Recently, in Hunan’s Yueyang City, the breach of the Dongting Lake embankment in Huarong County has caused the merging of waters. However, approximately 2.1 billion cubic meters of water are still trapped inside Tuanzhou embankment, equivalent to 15 West Lakes. This breach has led to people losing their homes and a lifetime of accumulated wealth.
On July 9th, the topic of “how to release the 2.1 billion cubic meters of water trapped after the Dongting Lake breach” trended on social media platforms in mainland China. CCTV of the Communist Party of China announced that at 10:31 pm on the 8th, the embankment breach location in Huarong County, Dongting Lake, was successfully sealed.
On the 5th, in Tuanzhou Township, Huarong County, the embankment of Dongting Lake in Tuanbei Village ruptured, causing the breach to widen to 226 meters at one point, flooding an area of 47.64 square kilometers within the embankment and necessitating the urgent relocation of 7,680 residents. The “second line of defense,” located just 2 kilometers from the breach, also faced a crisis. Local authorities were unprepared and did not organize personnel to block the breach with sandbags or rocks but instead used loose sand. As a result, trucks carrying banners and filled with sand were swept away by the flood after being deployed into the breach.
Prior to the Dongting Lake breach, the Hunan Provincial Government website had showcased flood prevention “achievement projects,” boasting about the total investment of 8.5 billion yuan in the first phase of key embankment reinforcement projects in the Dongting Lake area. However, official data revealed that the breached Tuanzhou embankment had not been included in the aforementioned reinforcement projects.
Despite merging at the embankment on the 8th, around 2.1 billion cubic meters of water remain trapped inside the Tuanzhou embankment, equivalent to 15 West Lakes. The director of the Hydrology Planning Institute of Changjiang Design Group Co., Ltd. mentioned that local authorities would mobilize mobile drainage equipment to discharge water in phases, a process expected to last over ten days.
Reports by “Jiemian News” on the 8th indicated that many residents expressed grief over losing everything and a lifetime of accumulated wealth.
According to the report, Liu Xiuqin, a 52-year-old resident of Tuanbei Village located about 1 kilometer from the breach, had experienced the embankment collapse in Tuanzhou in 1996, where her house was destroyed by a massive flood. When the current flood arrived, she evacuated with her two grandchildren aged six or seven, with water rising to ankle-level. She mentioned that the village mostly consisted of elderly people taking care of children and that on the 5th, they watched from the embankment as the water rapidly surged, causing houses to collapse one by one. Liu recalled thinking that the 9-acre fish pond she raised was likely gone, and they couldn’t salvage any belongings from their home.
Xi Lixiang, 56, living in Tuanjian Village about 6 kilometers from the breach, had his old house washed away during the 1996 flood. Subsequently, he worked hard on construction sites and managed to save 180,000 yuan by 2013 to build his current home, which was again swept away by the recent flood. Xi lamented, “Everything is gone. I’m over fifty and can’t work anymore.” He added, “With two floods, a lifetime has passed. I haven’t even settled my children yet, and now we’re old. There’s no way to start anything anew…”
Peng Jinping, 60, from Tuanxi Village, located approximately 12 kilometers from the breach, remarked that back in 1996, he had the capability and resources to rebuild after the flood. However, now approaching 60 years old and battling thyroid cancer while caring for two grandchildren, he questioned, “How can I rebuild now? Two floods have washed away a lifetime of accumulation…”