Town besieged by floodwaters is calling for reinforcements

Water levels are expected to rise further in Jiangxi's Jiujiang, local authorities say

A small township surrounded by the rising Yangtze River in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, has called on residents working elsewhere to return to join the flood prevention effort as it faces an "extremely severe" situation.

Jiujiang issued a red alert for heavy rain on Tuesday, with more than 100 millimeters of rainfall recorded in just three hours. It has rained for 15 consecutive days — since June 18 — with the accumulated rainfall more than double the average for this time of year.

Its 16 hydrological stations recorded water at or above warning levels at 8 am on Tuesday, with the Jiujiang station on the Yangtze River recording a water level of 21.41 meters, which is 1.41 meters higher than the warning level.

Jiangzhou, a township with a population of 6,000 on a small island in the Yangtze River, has not had enough people to help tame the rising water.

A letter the local authorities issued to call people back said over 1,000 people have been patrolling flood mitigation infrastructure along 34 kilometers of the Yangtze River around the clock. But water levels are expected to rise further and many more people are needed for flood prevention work.

In Jiangxi, 1.35 million people from 65 counties have been affected by flooding and geological disasters, with direct economic losses reaching 1.32 billion yuan ($182 million), according to provincial government data.

The Jiangxi Headquarters for Flood and Drought Prevention raised the response level for flood prevention at Poyang Lake to the second-highest level at 10 pm on Tuesday. The lake is the largest freshwater lake in the country and feeds into the Yangzte River.

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze have been battered by heavy downpours in recent days.

An official in Yueyang county, in the city of the same name in Hunan province, was found dead on Wednesday afternoon after a mountainside flood washed him and two colleagues into a river during an inspection tour of flood conditions on Monday, according to the local Party publicity department.

His two colleagues survived.

In a notice issued on Tuesday, Pingjiang, another county in Yueyang, described the extent and severity of flood damage as unprecedented, with most parts of the county under water.

There have been multiple landslides, and roads and crops have been badly damaged, it said.

It called on the public to lend a helping hand and donate money and goods to overcome the difficulties together.

Zhong Jianwu, deputy director of the Pingjiang Multi-media Center, where most of the equipment has been damaged by floodwaters, said the biggest challenge for local people is to clear the mud left behind when the waters recede and related disinfection.

By 4:51 am on Wednesday, the local river's water level had dropped to 70.49 meters — below the warning level. The county later adjusted its flood response to the second-highest level.

However, there is still no electricity or clean water in many parts of the county, making it harder for life to return to normal.

Zhong said he has not slept much and the center has established a temporary office in hotel rooms to keep operating.

"However, as media professionals, there is no way for us to back down in the face of such disasters," he said. "Local people trust us, and it is our responsibility to tell their stories to the outside world."