Hunan Province Floods: Efforts underway to rebuild embankments in villages

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The continuous rainfall that battered central parts of China has finally receded. Villagers have returned to their homes and the reconstruction of damaged embankments has started. CGTN's Li Jianhua reports from Hunan province.

The floods have at last receded, what's left are damaged crops, uprooted trees and inundated houses. This is one of the largest villages in the area, home to over 10,000 people. Cleaning away mud and debris is the main priority now, as favorable weather has arrived.

This villager says his house was flooded within 20 minutes after an embankment burst not far from his home on Wednesday.

ZHOU CHUNYUAN VILLAGER, YANGZIPING VILLAGE "It took only ten minutes for the flood water to reach my waist. I ran out for my life and left all my belongings at home. I later went to rescue others with the rescue team comprised of the armed forces. In 1994, there was a huge flood. We are hit by floods every 10 to 12 years."

Zhou later went out to join the volunteers to help other villagers salvage what remains. After flood waters eased, the local epidemic control department came to fumigate the village house by house.

YIN WEI, DIRECTOR HENGDONG DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION CENTER "There will be lots of work to do after the flood recedes. It should be a month or even a few months for us. We'll monitor the water quality, food and vegetables in all the disaster-hit areas, making sure everything is sanitized. Also, we need to deal with the dead livestock and rats."

Outside the village, a building team are striving to rebuild the damaged embankment, the break is about 60 meters wide. But occasional rainfall is slowing down their efforts.

GAO HAILONG ARMED POLICE "What we are doing right now is excavating some sandstones and earth from nearby areas to block the broken part of the embankment. The challenge for now is that it's hard to find enough red earth to strengthen the embankment."

This is only one of the embankment bursts in the area, it's also the largest one. Over 270-thousand people have been affected in this county alone.

LI JIANHUA HENGDONG COUNTY, HUNAN PROVINCE "The embankment was built back in the 1970s. The flood this year has been the most severe since 1994 - some 25 years ago - due to embankment bursts. The villagers here now hope the government would invest more to strengthen the embankment to prevent disasters like this from happening in the future. LJH, CGTN, HENGDONG COUNTY, HUNAN PROVINCE."