In a recent development on July 7, 2024, a breach occurred in the embankment of Tuanzhou dyke at Dongting Lake in Huarong County, Hunan Province. The breach has extended to 226 meters, with the “second line of defense” located just 2 kilometers away also facing a crisis.
Prior to the breach at Tuanzhou dyke, the official website of Hunan Province had showcased flood prevention “achievements” with an investment of 8.5 billion yuan in the key embankment reinforcement project of Dongting Lake area. However, Tuanzhou dyke, known as the “first risk of Hunan,” was not included in this project.
On July 5 around 4 p.m., a breach occurred at the first-line embankment of Tuanzhou dyke in Tuanbei Village, Tuanzhou Township, Huarong County, Yueyang City. Local authorities used trucks loaded with sand and stones to block the breach while two sand dredging boats continuously filled the breach with sand. However, the sealing efforts failed as the breach continued to widen.
According to official reports from the city of Yueyang, as of 11 a.m. on July 6, the breach at Dongting Lake had expanded to 226 meters.
Huayong County of Yueyang City experienced momentary wind speeds of about 7 to 8 levels on July 6. Currently, the water depth at Tuanzhou dyke in Huayong County is approximately 5 meters, with an inundated area of about 47 square kilometers, constituting 92.5% of the entire Tuanzhou dyke area.
The “second line of defense” located 2 kilometers away from the breach is the Qiantuan embankment, spanning 14.35 kilometers between Tuanzhou dyke and Qiannan dyke. Urgent reinforcement is needed to prevent further flooding and the submersion of neighboring Qiannan dyke.
As per CCTV reports, experts have urgently allocated 55,600 tons of stone blocks from surrounding areas such as Huayong, Changde, Yiyang, and Changsha to commence the embankment consolidation work at the first-line dyke of Tuanzhou dyke.
However, the suggestions from these experts have sparked public skepticism. Weibo user “Young Earl” argued that simply laying stones could be a stop-gap measure and recommended promptly welding reinforced steel stone cages. China Hydropower Engineering Bureau VII confirmed that due to intense water flow, large blocks of stone, stone clusters, and prefabricated concrete tetrahedrons were all washed away when thrown into the breach. After futile direct stone throwing for 10 hours, a switch to large reinforced steel stone cages yielded immediate results.
Public records indicate that Tuanzhou Township, where the breach occurred, is located in the southeastern part of Huarong County, at the confluence of Dongting Lake and Ouchi River. Surrounded by the lake on its east, south, and north sides, the first-line flood defence embankment stretches for 20.8 kilometers, serving as the first barrier for Huarong and Junshan, hence earning the nickname “first risk of Hunan.”
Tuanzhou Dyke is also a part of the Qianliang Lake flood storage embankment. The Qianliang Lake flood storage embankment is situated on the west bank of East Dongting Lake, bordering Moshan to the north, Ouchi River to the south, and Nanshan and Yuanrong Hucheng embankments to the west.
Just before the breach at Dongting Lake, the official website of Hunan Province issued a promotional report on July 3 regarding Dongting Lake’s water conservancy projects.
The announcement stated that as of 6 p.m. on July 2, no major incidents had occurred in the seven ongoing significant water conservancy projects throughout the province during the latest heavy rainfall period. The embankment reinforcement project in the Dongting Lake area involved six key embankments, including Songli, Anzao, Yuanli, Changchun, Lannihu, and Huarong Hucheng, with a total length of 658 kilometers. The project commenced on September 30, 2022, and is scheduled for completion by 2026.
The Hunan Daily reported on September 30, 2022, that the first phase of the embankment reinforcement project in the Dongting Lake area officially commenced construction, with a project duration of 45 months and a total investment of 8.5 billion yuan.
Official information reveals that the embankment of Tuanzhou dyke at Dongting Lake, which experienced the breach, was not included in the first-phase embankment reinforcement project of Hunan Province.
Significantly, just before the breach at the first-line embankment of Tuanzhou dyke in Tuanbei Village, Huarong County, the Yueyang News Network reported on June 30 that in anticipation of flood risks during the flood season, the Party and government team of Tuanzhou Township in Huarong County implemented segmented command and responsibility delegation, mobilizing Communist Party members and cadres to the front line promptly. They conducted a comprehensive “inspection” of all pumping stations, gates, embankments, and bridges in the area and organized round-the-clock monitoring by designated personnel.
After the breach at Tuanzhou dyke, a document from the Huarong County Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters circulated online on July 5, the day of the breach. The document, titled “Notice on Cancelling Leaves for All Public Servants in the County and Prohibiting Individuals from Releasing Information to the Public,” mandated that all county public servants must cancel their leaves and refrain from granting unauthorized interviews to news media. It further prohibited anyone from disseminating information publicly, emphasizing that official press releases should be the sole source of information.
This document made its way to an overseas platform X, where netizens sarcastically commented, “They believe shutting mouths is easier!”
According to reports by The Paper, Tuanzhou dyke, which suffered the breach on July 5, was previously known as the “first risk of Hunan” and had experienced severe damage in 1996.
Historical records from Yueyang indicated that during that time, a breach over 460 meters wide and nearly a kilometer deep tore through the Tuanzhou dyke in just a few hours, inundating the entire dyke. This catastrophe affected over 5,500 households in the village, resulting in the complete failure of 2,466.67 hectares of cotton, 200 hectares of fish ponds, and 133.33 hectares of large lake aquaculture.
The breach at Tuanzhou dyke transformed the intermediate embankment of Qianliang Lake, which had not faced floodwaters for 19 years, into the primary flood defence embankment. The records in the History of Yueyang City indicated widespread serious water seepage along the intermediate embankment, with nearly 4 kilometers suffering from overflowing and numerous landslide occurrences.
Despite rescue efforts, a breach also occurred at the Qianliang Lake embankment. The breach measured 314 meters in length, leading to the conversion of 220,000 mu (approximately 14,666.67 hectares) of land into a waterlogged state by around 10 a.m. on July 29.
In May 2018, while responding to representative suggestions, the Yueyang City Water Affairs Bureau highlighted that the Provincial Department of Water Resources had initiated and successfully completed the embankment reinforcement project of the Qianliang Lake flood storage embankment from 2009 to 2011. The construction of the first phase of the Qianliang Lake embankment safety project began in 2014, with all the reinforcement projects for the old embankment completed.