Respite for China’s Wuhan as storm hammers Nanjing
Floodwaters recede in Hubei but coastal provinces brace for typhoon
Life in central China’s flood-hit city Wuhan, in Hubei province, started returning to normal as floodwaters began receding across most of the city, after the torrential rains of the past week stopped on Wednesday evening .
But Nanjing, which lies downstream on the Yangtze River, was struck by a severe thunderstorm that lasted six hours yesterday and dumped 240mm of rain on parts of the city in a few hours, wreaking havoc on roads and the railway system.
Weather officials warned that the city would be further affected after Typhoon Nepartak lands in Fujian province today or tomorrow, affecting provinces closer to the coast.
Trains at Nanjing South Station were stranded after a 200m-long wall collapsed yesterday morning. More than 20 services departing from Nanjing and Nanjing South stations were cancelled because of the floods.
Many roads in the city were flooded up to 1m deep in places.
Wuhan was paralysed on Wednesday after more than 200 roads were flooded, causing the suspension of 216 public bus services.
Authorities in the city of 10 million people were busy sealing sluice gates along the Yangtze River to prevent more water leaking into the city, after the water level of the Yangtze reached 28.37m at midnight on Wednesday, the fifth-highest recorded level in the city’s history.
Although highways and traffic remained affected by flooding yesterday morning on about 20 low-lying sections of road, life in the city began returning to normal after the rain stopped.
“Yesterday’s urban flooding was more of a shock to us,” a local resident said. “I didn’t think the river bank of the Yangtze would ever be breached.”
The urban poor – mostly migrants running small businesses – have suffered the most during the floods.
Wang Caihua, 60, who runs a small factory producing precast cement products in Xianjian village near Tangxun lake, saw his home and 20 tonnes of stock and equipment submerged.
“Everything has gone. My losses could be up to 200,000 yuan. I don’t know what I’ll do next,” he said. “I tried to go inside, but the water was over my head.”
Wang and his wife sheltered for the night in their truck.
In nearby Yaozui village, Mrs Jiang, 53, was taking a brief nap in a makeshift shack on top of a pile of construction waste.
Jiang and her family, including two grandchildren aged 2 and 4, had driven for four hours from Zhangjiangwan, where their home was flooded.
“I am trying to move my stuff here, bit by bit,” said Jiang, who recycles waste plastic. “I have to start all over again. It will take at least two months.”
Some local residents questioned a plan by the Wuhan government three years ago to spend 13 billion yuan (HK$15 billion) to improve the drainage system.
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Wang Xinyi, a Wuhan native studying in Beijing, said she wrote to the Wuhan water affairs bureau yesterday to release details of the funds spent on drainage projects.
“My hometown floods every summer but the situation was so serious this year,” she said.
Wang said the water in her parents home in Wuchang district was knee-deep, making it difficult for her mother to get to work.
According to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces will receive heavy rain today or tomorrow from typhoon Nepartak. The heaviest downfalls are expected in the southeast part of Zhejiang and northeast Fujian.
The typhoon will also bring 50-80 mm of rain to Tai Lake, which has already reached its second- highest water level in history.
